Oh dear Ray and I have carried on with this funny virus (if that’s what it is) One minute you feel OK, then you feel sick. Never actually being sick. i thought it might be a cold coming, as our son has one, but no its not a cold. I get paranoid when this happens and everything gets washed or bleached. So a clean house from top to toe has kept us busy.
Anyway we are feeling better and the sun is warming our old bones.
We are really wound up about Operation Stack as here in Kent it has become a nightmare to travel around. So many lorries are parked in every lay by as they don’t want to get in the long queue.
This time I cant see an end as the freight tunnel is blocked every night with migrants running through to get to Folkestone.
They are being caught and as they have discarded their passports so that our authorities cant know where they come from we are finger printing those that are caught and then have to find accommodation here in our coastal towns. One of these is a empty old peoples home that is next to our infant school. Many people are protesting at this.
One poor family even ended up with the lorry they had traveled in pulled up at our Canterbury University. Now they have plenty of empty rooms as its the summer holiday.
I don’t know where this will all end but a solution has to be found as cost to our local authority and NHS is tremendous.
British Lung Foundation have reported on the Presentation of their Fight For breath campaign.
Ray and I were honoured to have been invited and I did report in my blog of the wonderful day we had there.
Maggie Throup MP told the room: “Lung disease is one of biggest threats to our nation’s health. Ray had a long chat with her and i was so pleased he found the whole day so interesting as I do worry that I drag him around to all these meetings x
It is good that he does get involved as well.
Now is the time for action
We launched our 6 key steps for improving the UK’s lung health.
These include a wide range of actions such as giving lung disease the priority it deserves alongside cardiovascular disease and cancer, promoting early diagnosis, and improving the air quality across the UK.
These statistics on mesothelioma in the UK were compiled as part of our Respiratory Health of the Nation project by teams at St George’s, University of London, Nottingham University and Imperial College London.
How many people in the UK have been diagnosed with mesothelioma?
In 2012, 5,420 people had ever received a diagnosis of mesothelioma, as estimated from general practitioner records. This had increased from an estimated 5,040 in 2004. These figures include patients currently living with mesothelioma, and those whose cancer was successfully treated in the past.
I had such a bad day yesterday. I felts so sick and kept sleeping through the day at the Marsden.
It all went normal for the journey (which was a good one) we arrived and a little voice from the kitchen said Go in Mavis i will book you in. I couldn’t see who it was and then saw Carol as I got back to the kitchen. Making her first Tea of the morning
I went back to the waiting room, where other patients started arriving.
We wasn’t there long, when I got called in for my bloods. Ray was fast asleep so I left him there.
Everyone was their cheery self, I was soon done and back to the waiting room. I saw the Doctor and everything was good.
I gradually felt sicker and sicker that by the time we went for something to eat I just couldn’t eat or drink.
I was so cold, although everyone was moaning it was cold as all the windows were open.
Back at the waiting room I asked Ray what I should do, so he went and told Lorraine who immediately got the Doctor. He wrote a prescription for something to go through my PIC line.
Carol put the warming pad on and a blanket and I did warm up. I kept drifting off to sleep. My temperature was still up and blood pressure up so they waited an hour for it to level off.
I was finally allowed the drug. I just didn’t want to waste such an expensive drug.
We were finally allowed to go home it was still only 3pm.
(An observation– sitting there watching the nurses this department is far to small. Trying to get all the equipment to each patient is a nightmare for them to maneuver around in, Ray had to get up to move the drug station in and out.
Trying to drag equipment around they really do need a larger room. This is such important work they do need the space to carry it out in.
Anyway off to home and then chaos. Operation stack was in place as the tunnel was bombarded by so many migrants running into the tunnel at the French end.
This has to be sorted. I was fuming as we sat at J5 amongst huge Lorries and the traffic was at a standstill.
I had made Ray get out into the wrong lane. people were getting out of the vehicles it was just awful.
Then a man came from the lorry in front and started signalling for it to back back.
He was foreign so he hadn’t explained why????????
Ray bibbed on the horn as we had no way of going back.
He laughed as I screamed no no !!!
It seem s a woman was running down the line of 3 lanes getting people to back so she could get through and get off at J5.
Goodness you can see why people get killed. Motor Bikes were squeezing through she could have got hit at anytime.
We moved forward a bit so a huge lorry tried to move over to our lane which held the traffic so ray moved over to get out at J6 but we found the road clear. it turned out there was a lorry broke down in front of us. Why don’t they tell you through the radio at times like this. We were being told everything was just slow moving, — It was stopped.
We sailed through from then on but we had been in operation stack from J5 to J13.
When we came off at our junction there was a accident. This is chaos and it must be sorted,we only travel every 2 weeks these people are doing it everyday.
Today the papers make the story clearer
About 2,000 migrants attempted to storm the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais, causing severe delays to cross-Channel rail services and gridlock on UK roads, it has been revealed.
.The migrants’ attempts to enter the UK forced the tunnel operator to close the terminal early on Tuesday morning, disrupting rail services for up to an hour and having a knock-on effect on road tailbacks in Kent, Eurotunnel said.
We are not amused –In the words of Queen Victoria.
I made an omelet and that was it I went to bed 7pm exhausted and I slept through to 5am when the Seagulls were squawking. That’s another story.
Rays Blog
Long ole day . mavis woke me up at 4 am. Wake up wake up she was pushing me. Weve overslept she said. What? . Its 4 am we have another 45 mins yet. But we were awake now so up we got. I was up earlier at just past midnight I felt really sick. And chronic indigestion. So I didn’t sleep much anyway. [ 437 more words. ]
I can’t believe the wet weekend we have just had where we got soaked when we wet out in fact I didn’t go out yesterday only Ray did as he took Louis out and they went on their own.
It’s not only the rain its the colder with the promise of it getting colder by the end of the week. You just have to stop moaning and accept we do get summers like this. I remember taking the children on holiday and spending a fortune in the arcades trying to keep them amused.
I have been doing a few Articles for Linkedin which has been a new pathway
for me but they have been received so I’m happy with what i have written so far.
That didn’t get many comments which is a shame as it really is very interesting if you like French history.
The latest news of Merck
Earnings season is now well under way, and the biggest names in healthcare (i.e., Big Pharma) are readying to report their results in the upcoming days. One such pharmaceutical giant that Wall Street and investors should have their eyes on is Merck (NYSE: MRK) .
Based on a press release from late June, Merck will be releasing its second-quarter earnings results before the opening bell on Tuesday, July 28. The current consensus estimate on Wall Street calls for Merck to earn $0.80 in EPS on $9.78 billion in sales. On a year-over-year basis, Merck’s sales are projected to fall by a hair over 10%, while its EPS is estimated to contract by $0.05 per share. But, if history is any guide, investors might be looking for an earnings beat come July 28, with Merck surpassing Wall Street’s EPS estimates in 10 of the past 11 quarters, and by a sizable $0.10 per share in Q1 2015.
Three important questions we want answered
Although investors will obviously be focused on these headline numbers, it’s even more important to understand the dynamics of how Merck arrived at its top-line and bottom-line figures. With that in mind, let’s briefly look at three important questions that we as investors would like to see Merck answer when it reports its Q2 results.
1. Is Keytruda’s ramp-up still on track? Arguably the hottest trend in drug development right now is the ongoing research surrounding cancer immunotherapies as both monotherapies and combo therapies. Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda is one such drug that holds a bounty of potential given its ability to supercharge a cancer patient’s immune system to more effectively kill cancer cells.
Approved last September, Keytruda sales have ramped up quickly. Following just $4 million in sales in its partial third-quarter, Keytruda tallied $50 million in sales in Q4, and $83 million in the first-quarter of this year. More importantly, Keytruda sales have trumped that of its checkpoint inhibitor rival Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb in the early going.
What investors will be looking for in the second-quarter is confirmation from Merck that its roughly 30 planned monotherapy and combo trials involving Keytruda are still on track to be completed in the coming years; that insurer coverage of the expensive immuno-oncology drug remains high (Keytruda has an annual wholesale cost of $150,000); and that sequential growth for Keytruda remains strong.
What specific figure should investors be looking for? While Wall Street’s estimates vary wildly, I’ll personally be looking for 40% to 50% sequential quarterly sales growth for Keytruda, or in the neighborhood of $120 million in sales.
Also pay attention to any color that Merck can add for full-year Keytruda sales. Halfway through its fiscal year, and three full quarters into its ramp-up, Merck should be able to provide analysts with some rough estimate of how much revenue it expects from Keytruda in its first full year on the market.
Approved last September, Keytruda sales have ramped up quickly. Following just $4 million in sales in its partial third-quarter, Keytruda tallied $50 million in sales in Q4, and $83 million in the first-quarter of this year. More importantly, Keytruda sales have trumped that of its checkpoint inhibitor rival Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb in the early going.
It is my understanding that the Trials are being funded and so it will be available to more patients around the world as a Phase 2 Placebo and as a combo so I will be watching the answer to this with the Mesowarriors for when the report comes out.
Rays Blog
I was trying to determine how old Louis is today. My son recently said he is about 9 or 10 years old. NO way we said he is around 8. So I set to trawling back through old diaries. No joy checked Blue Cross Memorial where I put his memorial. They said no records found. Then I remembered my little brown book.
I was able to join in a Google hangout today Run By cancer Research.
I love the word Hangout as thats what I did in my youth. Friends would hang out and we would discuss the topics of the day. Teddy Boys, Make Up, etc etc.
Anyway this was great and I joined in at 4pm after we had taken Louis out in the field. It had rained and yet it was so dry out there. Still huge cracks in the dry ground.
I had an email informing me –At 4pm this afternoon, we’ll be talking cancer immunotherapy live with two leading experts, Professor Frances Balkwill and Professor Ben Wilcox, in a Google Hangout! Join us to find out, among other things, what the immune system has to do with cancer, what exactly immunotherapy is and is it hope or hype?
It was excellent as you can see. It explained so much that I hope the Mesowarriors have watched and understood just what is going on now.
The shocking video that will outrage Australian families.
A Current Affair have obtained dramatic footage that shows asbestos being dumped without any safety controls.
Lou had put this on her Facebook as it was a programme they showed in Australia. I don’t know how long it will be available but I’m sure there will be newspapers writing the story. How can they carry on like this. Why is there such disregard for people’s lives, even their own. This goes on in so many places around the world and I praise the people there for taking the video of the event. well done we need a few more whistle blowers like this.
Why is asbestos still killing people? Nic Fleming finds out in a twisting tale of industry cover-ups and misinformation that spans decades.
This was written in March but I saw it today
The description made me shudder — Ordinarily there would be bright yellow tape with the words “WARNING asbestos” on it, the site supervisor tells me. But this is an especially sensitive job. The neighbouring ward’s beds are filled by patients with acute respiratory conditions, and the hospital’s management decided that advertising the true nature of the work might cause alarm.–
How can they do this to people. The whole article is very well written please have a read we need to know the truth.
It has also the story of
Winston Bish at his Cambridgeshire home with his daughter’s dog, Toby.
William though, is much more concerned that others are informed of the dangers, so they do not end up in his shoes, than with blaming anyone for his condition. “I just hope that people are made more aware of the problems linked to asbestos. It’s still there in schools, offices and housing, and anyone who does DIY can come into contact with it. It can lay dormant for 40 to 50 years, and there’s no cure.”
“I enjoyed working in the building industry – very much so – but if I’d known the risks back then I wouldn’t have gone into it,” he says. “I realise now it was like playing Russian roulette. Some take the bullet, others don’t. I was one of the unlucky ones.”
It shouldn’t be like this, all the lessons should have been learnt but Given that asbestos could be present in any building refurbished or built before 2000 in the UK – homes, hospitals, schools, offices – it’s likely that the specialist removal companies will be busy for years to come. So too will be the clinics and hospitals dealing with the human casualties of the appalling legacy of a mineral called asbestos.
Rays Blog
We had planned to go away for the weekend. But it’s drizzling here with expected heavy rain later. So another week at home. Tom Tom Update. A response tells me that If I want a refund I can have it. However the recent purchased update is not yet installed because my existing one is still active for a few more days. [ 126 more words. ]
Yesterday was a quiet day the weather was windy and yet warm so the washing dried fast.
The Kent and Sussex Local Paper was asking for photo’s of weddings right through the ages so I chose this one to put in there gallery.
It was 1960 and Mum had made all the dresses, well you did in those days. The old treadle machine was always kept busy and Mum and I made our clothes.
The material was bought at the Rochester Market.
But for the dresses for my wedding we shopped at an expensive material shop in Chatham and Mum worked on the machine for long hours as she was a perfectionist, and we had many fittings until she was happy with them.
We did the usual walk with the dog and the clouds were rolling in and out. We just cant seem to shift the grey clouds although today is a better sunny day but rain is forecast for tomorrow. It will be Autumn before we know it and we don’t feel like we have had summer yet.
Lynda Wride put this on her face book — Programme on iPlayer until 18 August – worth watching if you know someone who is terminally ill (or are yourself) xx
Before I Kick the Bucket
Heartwarming documentary in which terminally ill Rowena Kincaid tries to figure out what best to do with the time that remains. She says on her Facebook —
Hi there. My name is Rowena Kincaid.
Last year I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer. Doctors told me that without treatment I’d likely die within three to six months. Luckily I’m still here, but I’m painfully aware that I’m living on borrowed time.
Everyone keeps asking me “what’s on my bucket list?” They’re shocked when I tell them I don’t have one. But should I have one? Are all terminally ill people expected to have bucket lists? Are they meant to help in some way?
To find out, I’ve convinced the BBC to let me make a film and I’m looking to hear from others in the same boat as me.
If you live in the UK and are living with a terminal illness, I’d really like you to get in touch. It might be that you have a bucket list, or you’re making a bucket list, or you might think that they’re a waste of time and energy. Whatever your thoughts, please email me – lilmissbucketlist@gmail.com
I want this film to raise awareness about the diversity of terminal diseases and about how people live with them day to day. You pass people in the street and would never know anything was wrong. But behind the surface there’s hardship and heartache and laughter and life. And that, ultimately, is what I want to show the world.
Personally, I don’t know what to expect. But I’m determined to live the rest of my life as fully as possible. So please, spread the word and get involved!
What a wonderful Young Woman and so sad to see her plight and yet she is facing it with laughter.
So very young she must have wanted to live all her life in one day. Being older I do agree with some of her points though.I do not rush around I do sit and watch an ant or a blackbird gathering food for her young. I hear a cuckoo and I watch my family sometimes like I watching them through a window. I don’t need a bucket list I need a skip but I need the strength to just enjoy each moment.
I think her being young it is harder it is a little different for the older person As like Steve Wride we are at 6 years and so Id be worn out by now.
I made a bucket list it was a very quiet one but I have gone through that. So I keep writing and rewriting my bucket list. I have turned my life around and Im Campaigning, Conferences and Social Media are my salvation. Writing everything I can so I leave so much behind for people to read and to learn.
My biggest thing I’m leaving is the cure fo Mesothelioma I have led the way for others to not have the need to write a bucket list.
That is my wish and it takes all my energy.
I met a lovely man last week who wanted to interview me. He dreaded meeting me but by the time I had finished the interview we had laughed so much with jokes flying back and forth it was like being at a party and where were we??? —-outside the Royal Marsden Cancer it doesn’t have to be morbid. This Cancer hospital isnt morbid. Everyone has hope as they go on Phase 1 Trials. No Placebo’s here, they are not welcome
I had put a lot of photos of Asbestos products on FaceBook and Linkedin and it w=raised a lot of comments.
Asbestos is usually thought to be an industrial invention, used widely in the 20th century after industrial mining began in the late 1800s. However the history of asbestos goes back much further. People from all over the world have been using for thousands of years for its fire resistance, strength and insulating properties.
One of the earliest found examples of asbestos use comes from the ancient Greeks using asbestos fibres to make the wicks for eternal flames in temples. Ancient Egyptians were also aware of the durability of asbestos and wove it into cloth to strengthen clothing and to wrap the embalmed bodies of their Pharaohs.
Finland is the first country to use it as a building material around 2500 BC. Ruins of log cabins show asbestos being used as insulation. There have also been pots found with asbestos fibres – probably to strengthen and protect.
In a writing from 456 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus described how asbestos shrouds were wrapped around the bodies of the dead before cremation to contain the ashes. It was also commonplace for Roman restaurants to use asbestos table cloths that would be thrown in the fire to clean before the next customer.
Asbestos use started to get a bit more creative In 1095 during the crusades. Trebuchets were used during sieges that flung burning balls of pitch and tar wrapped in asbestos bags over city walls.
Marco Polo even witnessed asbestos being used by Genghis Khan and his Mongolian horde. They made their clothes from a “fabric that would not burn”, apparently woven from the hair of woolly lizards. This was just a fantasy however, and the real source of their clothing was revealed when he visited an asbestos mine in china.
So were these ancient peoples aware of the dangers of Asbestos to health?
Some were, as is shown by Greek geographer Strabo’s notes on slaves who produced asbestos cloth getting a “sickness of the lungs”. Roman historian Pliny the Elder noticed a similar effect, and wrote about the “disease of slaves” describing how miners would use a thin membrane crafted from the bladder of a goat or lamb to protect them from inhaling the dust as they worked. Unfortunately, this knowledge was lost, and when the industrial revolution began in the 1800s, asbestos mining exploded.
So isn’t it awful that the dangers have always been known. Why did they think they could get away with it in the modern world. Its all very well saying money but this was, and still is, human lives and as such we deserve better.
Yesterday was a sunny day. We have to enjoy those days as they have been rare this summer. It just cannot get going someone needs to crank up the weather to get it going.
We did get our walk in which wakes us up after lunch it’s so amazing that this year the park has been empty most times. It’s usually full of walkers and dogs but not this year.
I put some photos of products that contained Asbestos and people were very interested. It’s a shock to see the what we used and dint know they contained a deadly substance.
Our Logo for face book is above and that is a photo of me as a baby– who would have thought we were so unprotected in those days.
You just can’t believe that they actually did know the dangers and yet allowed manufacturing of these products.
It truly is amazing.
We do go on and on everyday trying to educate the modern-day world to the dangers of Asbestos we are still surrounded by the asbestos in our buildings and our living world today.
Dry Ice is used to blast of the Asbestos from larger areas
Dry ice pellets which are pure solid carbon dioxide, are made by decompressing liquid CO2 to create CO2 snow. The snow is then compacted and extruded through a die plate to form solid CO2 pellets.
Dry ice is unstable above minus 78.6 °C at atmospheric pressure, but instead of melting into CO2 liquid when it warms up, it sublimes directly into CO2 gas. It is this sublimation process that creates the cleaning effect when dry ice is used as a blast medium.
During blasting the pellets are accelerated to speeds between 200 and 300 m/s using compressed air. They break up as they travel through the blaster and arrive at the work surface as fast moving pinhead sized particles. The particles embed themselves in the pores and cracks of any surface deposits and very quickly sublime into a much larger volume of CO2 gas. This rapid generation of gas within an enclosed space breaks up the surface deposit, releases its bond with the substrate and blows it away. The CO2 diffuses into the atmosphere leaving no debris other than the material removed, which is usually found as a fine dust.
The conditions these men work in is very hard
Asbestos First says —
Asbestos removal and encapsulation
We have extensive experience in Asbestos removal for both private and commercial clients, from small homes to large offices, hospitals schools and industrial estates.
Each contract is undertaken with the same professionalism whether it is large, small, short term or long term. Every contract is run by a fully qualified site supervisor and overseen by the management team. All asbestos removal operatives have face fit certificates, medicals and are fully trained to the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) standards with at least one operative per crew being a qualified supervisor. We have also achieved the Site Audit Accreditation Scheme quality assurance award from ARCA every year since its inception in 2003.
Air monitoring is undertaken by an independent laboratory so as to prevent any biased results being issued. Each laboratory used must be UKAS accredited to carry out the works. All asbestos is disposed of as fibrous or non fibrous waste,depending on the type of product. We have a full carriers license, enabling us to transport small amounts of waste to an approved toxic waste site if a skip is not required.
Thank Goodness we have many of these companies that do the work properly and within HSE standards But I fear for their safety as these are the people working with what I see as a deadly material. It is killing me and the Mesowarriors. These men and women have to have medicals and are well checked on but it will never be known if the deadly disease is there until its to late and they can not breath.
I really to take my hat of to them and pray they keep safe.
This publication contains the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and guidance text for employers about work which disturbs, or is likely to disturb, asbestos, asbestos sampling and laboratory analysis. The Regulations set out your legal duties and the ACOP and guidance give practical advice on how to comply with those requirements. The Regulations give minimum standards for protecting employees from risks associated with exposure to asbestos.
The Regulations came into force on 6 April 2012, updating and replacing the previous 2006 law. They contain new requirements for certain types of non-licensable work with asbestos on notification of work; designating areas where you are working on asbestos; medical surveillance and record keeping.
Two ACOPs, L127 (The management of asbestos in non-domestic premises) and L143 (Work with materials containing asbestos) have been consolidated into this single revised ACOP. The ACOP has been revised to make legal compliance clearer to dutyholders and to reflect the changes introduced in The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. The presentation and language have been updated wherever possible.
Sunday was a very cold dull day and had been raining most of the night.
I worked on my writings most of the day as I had a story idea that I got down on paper.
I wrote about house surveys for Asbestos as it is in our homes if built before 2000 and people are drilling into walls and ripping down walls as the renovate their homes. This is the craze and yet no one thinks of where the Asbestos is. If you had a survey you would at least find out and then deal with it as you see fit.
The danger points are well documented.
The question I posed was Can I sell an item that contains asbestos? the answer by HSE No. It is illegal to supply any article containing asbestos, whether for money, or free of charge.—— so technically we cant sell a house if has Asbestos in ??????
It is a thought but it isn’t law as yet but should we be waiting for the law shouldn’t we be taking the law into our own hands.
Asbestos companies are offering a surveys at a very affordable price so I believe if you live in a house built before 2000 you should have a survey carried out for your own protection.
As long as it is untouched and not damaged in anyway it will be safe, and you can make up your own mind to have it removed by the professionals.
You never know when you are drilling a hole while putting a picture up or doing a plumbing job that you could disturb Asbestos.
That scrapping of Artex off the wall or taking lino tiles up from the floor could be putting you and your family in danger.
The Guardian in 2011 wrote a good report of the dangers but still I watch DIY program’s that are not mentioning Asbestos. I notice DIY SOS and Under The Hammer are being good and mention when finding Asbestos that the job stops and the professionals are called in but very rare does 60 minute Make Over.
Years ago no-one mentioned it and they pulled old houses apart and pulled down walls so starting the fashion of renovating old houses. There must be many builders suffering with asbestos disease’s including mesothelioma.
Quoting the Guardian (Sunday May 1st 2011)
The use of asbestos has been common in the industrialised world since the mid-19th century and it was not until 1999 that a total ban was imposed. Lee Carter, principal director of the consultants WSP Environment & Energy, says that it has been widely used in residential property: “Among private homes, more than 50% are likely to include some asbestos-containing materials.”
While this may sound alarming, asbestos is likely to be dangerous only if it is released into the air and you breathe it in. Then you could be at long-term risk of developing lung cancer, asbestosis or mesothelioma (a cancer that forms in the lining of the chest or abdomen). Experts say that there should be little or no risk if the asbestos is enclosed and left undisturbed but it must be regularly checked for signs of deterioration.
But accidents happen and the previously dormant devil within could be released when “improvement” work is being carried out, for example, or when a burst pipe causes damage to ceilings.
Association of British Insurers points out that policies will cover removal of asbestos only as part of a householder’s damage claim, and not simply because asbestos happens to have been identified.
In older homes, asbestos is often present in ceilings decorated using Artex textured coating. This is because, until the mid-1980s, Artex was made with white asbestos to strengthen it. However, Joe Oakins, a surveyor at Vintec Environmental Management, says: “We find asbestos products used in the strangest places and sometimes apparently for no reason. Often builders used whatever they had lying around, so you often find off-cuts of asbestos boards used as packing and filler.”
Peter Coling, technical director at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward Chartered Surveyors, estimates that 30% of asbestos is found in ceiling coatings, 15% in boiler flue pipes and ducts, and 15% in floor tiles. A further 15% is found in areas such as cold water storage tanks, insulation materials, eaves, gutters and rainwater pipes, while 10% is in cement panel ceilings, 10% in outbuildings and 5% in fire protection materials, for example on the underside of integral garage roofs and in cupboards enclosing boilers.
Phil Wright, chief engineer at the inspection and insurance service Allianz Engineering, says: “It is difficult to establish how much asbestos is present in a home without employing a specialist to undertake a full inspection.” Samples need to be taken for analysis at a laboratory approved by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.
Debbie Hales, director of Asbestos First, one of 450 licensed removal firms in the UK, says: “With textured coatings you have to take [samples] from different locations. It can be free of asbestos in one part and not in the next because of the way it was manufactured.”
Hales says that the cost of a sampling visit should be about £150 plus VAT. If any additional samples are required during the visit, expect to pay about £20 plus VAT per sample. To remove an area of textured coating, such as Artex, containing asbestos costs about £1,200 plus VAT for up to 20sq m, including disposal and air-quality tests. (please remember these prices were 2011) but I still feel this is a small price to pay to prevent Mesothelioma, which is at present incurable and only palliative care and you are told 3months to 1 year survival.
So really think about it and dont wait for us to win changes in the law with new legislations, lead by example and take the law into your own hands and protect your families.
Ray worked in the Dockyard and then at Higham so for those not on Linkedin or Face Book here is my writings.
Chatham Dockyard is the working place of my GGreat Grandfather Edward came with his wife from South Hilton Durham to Chatham and lived in Luton Chatham. He had a my Grandmother and she married Thomas and lived a few doors away where my Father, his brother Jackson and three sisters were born. My Grandfather died at 42 when he dropped dead over my Grandmother as she was holding her newborn, my Uncle Jackson.
The men all worked in the Dockyard walking in or going by cycle.
Now the dockyard has closed it has become a tourist attraction, a happy place and yet Mesothelioma is the deadly disease this dockyard has left the Medway towns suffering with.
Asbestos was a wonder material and was used as an insulating material used in the shipbuilding industry from the end of the 19th century until the the dockyard closed 1984/85 and everything was moved to Portsmouth.
Engine rooms,generating rooms, pipework and boilers,where ever the asbestos was used to lag was a danger to the workers. . Even after asbestos was stopped being used Chatham dockyard workers were still exposed to high levels of asbestos fibres from stripping out old asbestos lagging on refits.
Because asbestos was commonplace on ships/submarines, many Chatham dockyard employees could have been exposed to asbestos whilst building or maintaining ships and submarines. This includes shipwrights, joiners, engine fitters, electrical fitters, caulkers, labourers, rope makers, supervisors, cleaners and asbestos lagers.
Dangers from exposure to high levels of asbestos (especially blue and brown) and its association with asbestosis and lung cancer had been established by the second world war. However it was not until the mid 1960s that the real dangers of asbestos became well known. In 1965 the Sunday Times published an article warning of the link between exposure to low levels of the more common place white asbestos and the fatal disease mesothelioma. This eventually caused responsible employers at Chatham dockyards and elsewhere to take proper precautions to protect its workers from asbestos. Sadly for too many workers there was too long a delay between this knowledge and action to prevent asbestos exposure. Hundreds of them have found that the supposedly harmless white asbestos fibres they inhaled at Chatham dockyards have led to serious and often fatal diseases, such as asbestosis, diffuse pleural thickening, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.
Chatham dockyard has gained the nasty title of being the top employer responsible for the deaths from asbestos, lung cancer and asbestosis.
My Father died wrongly diagnosed as he died in 1989 having lived through the pain of emphysema with a frozen shoulder having had a small stroke. The symptoms I have seen in my dad are the same as I have had through my illness. Swollen legs, lymphedema, hard to breath at times. So sad as it meant he didnt have the proper treatment although there was even less than today.
The Medway area, which includes Chatham dockyards, is in the UK’s top four for asbestos related deaths. A total of 104 people died from mesothelioma in Medway between 2006 and 2010.
When you sit down with Ray he describes the asbestos as being piled up everywhere on the dock side and on the boats. Men were sawing the material, cutting it, even throwing and kicking it about as they worked, and the dust in the air when it was swept up.
Unlike Plymouth Dockyard they didn’t have a laundry service so Ray came home in his work clothes and i shook the dust and put them into the washing machine.
Ray has lost all the pals from his apprenticeship the 1953 entry.
“Health and safety” is too often referred to in derogatory terms, but a more conscientious attitude to the health and safety risks of asbestos in the 1950,s, 60s and 70s would have prevented such diseases like mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. It is because of such careless attitudes that employers like the Ministry of Defence at Chatham dockyards are often liable to compensate for diseases caused by asbestos. Unfortunately of course no amount of compensation can make up for a fatal illness. To true !!!!!!!!!!!
We spoke on BBC Politics and low and behold they used some film from The dockyard of the Dockyard maties going home on their bikes. I search the faces for my Dad but I dont think he was there as my Dad always worked overtime so he wouldnt be going home with the Masses bless him.
Just a bit more of Mavis handy work. Its only a small garden but she puts a lot of hard work into it. Even though she comes in totally shattered. Its warmish day . But our park walk with louis was windy.. When we got back mave pointed out that our neighbors bushes were sprouting big long spiky tendrils into our garden.
Kent & Sussex Courier Has printed on face Book the roadworks for the summer and there is one that could have held us up while going to and through the hospital but this will hold up my Motor Home friends on their way to and from Dover So hope it all clears before next week.
M2 junctions 4 Gillingham to 6 Faversham, Kent: Joint and bearing replacement
Timber has been felled and coppice cut in the Blean ever since man developed the tools to do this. Coppicing is when trees are cut down almost to ground level but new multiple stems are allowed to grow from the stump. Historically the two most useful trees would have been oak and hazel. Oak was favoured for its usefulness as a building material and hazel was ideal for making hurdles and laths for wattle and daub walling. Oak bark was used in the tannery industry in Canterbury until 1953 and even oak sawdust had a use in curing fish.The gunpowder works at Oare, near Faversham, was operational from the mid 16th century to 1934. It had a ready supply of charcoal from the Blean, usually made from alder, hazel, willow and alder buck thorn. Beech wood was used to make potash, also important in the gunpowder process. Another local industry, that existed until 1835, the copper as works at Tankerton, required lots of faggots (bundles of twigs), and oak posts to build defensive
walls on the shore. The eventual product from the nodules of copper as or iron pyrites found in London Clay was green ferrous sulphate crystals that the weavers of Canterbury used as a mordant to bind vegetable dyes to their fabric.
There were lots of other uses for the trees from the Blean including supplying wheel -wrights, boat builders, mines, coopers, sea defenders and coffin makers. From the 18th century sweet chestnut was widely planted (see The Trees of the Blean) and in the 20th century conifers or softwoods, were planted, often with generous grants, as they are fast
growing and it was thought, would have better economic returns. After the woodland economy hit pretty much rock bottom in
the 1990s and 2000s, there now appears to be a brighter future with an improving market for firewood and a renewed inter-
est in making use of a local renewable resource for fencing and other product Timber has been felled and coppice cut in the Blean ever since man developed the tools to do this. Coppicing is when trees are cut down almost to ground level but new multiple stems are allowed to grow from the stump.Historically the two most useful trees would have been oak and hazel. Oak was favoured for its usefulness as a building material and hazel was ideal for making hurdles and laths for wattle and daub walling. Oak bark was used in the tannery industry in Canterbury until 1953 and even oak sawdust had a use in curing fish.
The gunpowder works at Oare, near Faversham, was operational from the mid 16th century to 1934. It had a ready supply of charcoal from the Blean, usually made from alder, hazel, willow and alder buckthorn. Beech wood was used to make potash, also important in the gunpowder process. Another local industry, that existed until 1835, the copper’s works
at Tankerton, required lots of faggots (bundles of twigs), and oak posts to build defensive walls on the shore. The eventual product from the nodules of copper as or iron pyrites found in London Clay was green ferrous sulphate crystals that the weavers of Canterbury used as a mordant to bind vegetable dyes to their fabric.
There were lots of other uses for the trees from the Blean including supplying wheel wrights, boat builders, mines, coopers, sea defenders and coffin makers. From the 18th century sweet chestnut was widely planted (see The Trees of the Blean) and in the 20th century conifers or softwoods, were planted, often with generous grants, as they are fast growing and it was thought, would have better economic returns. After the woodland economy hit pretty much rock bottom in the 1990s and 2000s, there now appears to be a brighter future with an improving market for firewood and a renewed interest in making use of a local renewable resource for fencing and other products.
Is it any wonder I love living here. so near to nature and yet by the sea
The church had difficulty in placing vicars at Seasalter. It was regarded by the clergy as an unhealthy place and many barely lasted a year in the position.
One man did remain in the job, however, from 1711 to 1764, Thomas Patten.
The fact that the Church of England had not been able to find a vicar prepared to stay for long in this remote part of Kent, should raise questions concerning the motives behind Reverend Patten’s tenure of 53 years.
Thomas was frequently condemned by the Bishop and shunned by his colleagues, but it seems his parishioners were fond of him.
Revd. Patten referred to himself as the Bishop of Seasalter and his tiny church was no less than a “cathedral”.
He was a man with a frosty temperament and a sharp tongue. Some indication of his character can be found in the parish registers. Here, he makes comments about the severe weather as well as giving us a lively commentary on his flock:
‘The summer of the year 1725 was the most dreadful for continued rains, cold and tempests, that ever any history mentions. Not a day from May to October without rain. The fruits of the earth spoiled. And according to their different religions, some grumbled, some swore, and a few prayed.’
His observations on parishioners were hardly flattering. Against one entry in the marriage register of 1734 we read:
‘John Ponney of Canterbury, Huntsman to that ancient Corporation, and Elizabeth Johnson, daughter to the Devil’s vicegerent, commonly called a Bailiff, were tramelled by licence at the Cathedral of Seasalter, June 6, 1734.
Tom Taylor and his betrothed are also the subjects of the Reverend’s sardonic pen:
‘Old Tom Taylor, the great smoaker of Whitstable, and a deaf old woman called Elizabeth Church, were married at Seasalter with two rings. Oct 29, 1734. Si quis ex successoribus nostris hoc forte legat, rideat si velit.’
And in another comment from the records of 1744 we are introduced to:
‘John Honsden, widower, a young gape-mouthed lazy fellow and Hannah Matthews, hot ‘apont, an old toothless hag, both of Feversham were trammelled by licence in the Cathedral at Seasalter June 6th 1744. A Caspian bowl of well-acidulated Glimigrim.’
On his death, Archbishop Thomas Secker, a moderate and modest man by all accounts said:
‘Thomas Patten – described as “half mad, impudent, poor” and who died on 9 October, 1764, aged 80 – had been vicar of Seasalter since 1711 and perpetual curate of Whitstable.’
Reverend Patten was certainly eccentric. He was also brazen. He wore ragged and dirty clothes to embarrass his Bishop into increasing his stipend and lived quite openly with his mistress. But whatever we make of his behaviour, the parishioners appear to have found some redeeming features in their minister. Nor were the people beyond the ability to manipulate him when the occasion demanded it. The dear reverend often ended his sermon early if a parishioner made an offer to imbibe him at the local Blue Anchor.
Thomas Patten was put in place at the “Cathedral of Seasalter” to be the eyes and ears along that part of the coastline, the surrounding marshes and forestland.
He took his duties seriously.
Revd. Patten was not above employing stern measures against smugglers who ignored his presence – especially when they refused to pay a tithe for landing their contraband on his coastline. On one occasion in early 1714, a group of 130 men landed a cargo and Patten reported them to the local customs authorities in a letter. This had two effects:
First, it made smuggling along that part of the coast more hazardous and dangerous for gangs. The authorities’ attention had been drawn to the location. (The Seasalter Company carried on untroubled because they had family members in the local preventive services.)
Second, it reinforced the disguise of this fiery-tongued vicar in the community. Who, after all, would suspect a half-mad man of the cloth to be ministering to an extraordinarily well-organised gang of smugglers?
Rays Blog for today
A walk round the garden today reminded me I have more flowers than I realized. Just take a closer look. Although we woke to wet heavy rain. Its turned into a bright sunny day. I walked round the garden to see a lot of Mavis handy work. I don’t know a weed from a rose. Having fixed our dripping tap yesterday it was a pleasure to not wake up in the night to the drip drip drip and a bowl full of water. [ 54 more words. ]
Today has been a day where you ask just where the time has gone. We have been out dog walking so at least we have done something.
My poor fox that Louis tried to wake up is just a fur coat. I know its nature but the thought that ants of flies have been doing a cleaning job is just nature but I still cringed as walked past and Louis didnt want to know either.
I have been researching today as a coincidence is that my next door neighbour had a brother die of Mesothelioma in the 1970’s. He went to court and won a sum of money enough to buy a house but he died soon after. I was trying to find his case but I cant at the moment. It was on front page of the daily papers.
I came across British Uralite and that was where Ray had worked when he left the Dockyard. He only worked there 6 months.
But it only takes one fibre as I keep saying.
We couldn’t make a claim here as a secondary claim as it was still before the 1964 point that they claim they didn’t know it was dangerous.
Of coarse if Ray (God forbid) ever needed to claim then old cases are great to have evidence of people have won claims.
We were very interested to see my Solicitor has won such a case.
The photo was taken in the 1940’s
Harminder Bains acted on behalf of Mrs Joyce Holley who worked at the British Uralite asbestos factory in Higham from
1943 to 1949.
Initially she worked in the women’s pipe shop and then finally in the canteen. She was exposed to asbestos whilst making
asbestos products such as pipe bends, pipe terminals, pipe cowls and garden boxes.She also cut wet asbestos sheets, wrapped the asbestos around moulds and finally took the moulds to a fire to dry out.After drying she would smooth the asbestos products down with an emery board and polish them with French chalk.
Mrs Holley was diagnosed with mesothelioma in July 2009
At the British Uralite factory in Higham, chimney pots, pipes and tiles were made from raw asbestos. Similarly, it was also used in power stations and heavy engineering plants in the Towns.
I cant believe that Ray hasn’t told the story of the 6 months employment he did here. He said when I interviewed him “You have never asked, but I have written it down for our Solicitor.
Ray said “We were manufacturing window boxes, which entailed multiple trips to the hopper, where sheets of wet asbestos were laid out on giant tables, about 6 ft x 8ft long. Using a giant rolling pin between, two men, we would roll a sheet onto the rolling pin and carry it back to our work stations, there it would be unrolled on the table and various sizes would be cut from the wet sheet. These would be placed in wooden moulds and beaten into shape with a metal spatulas.
These moulds would be placed in a rack over night.
The following day these moulds would be back on the bench where the semi hard asbestos would be trimmed with a knife or hack saw blade, the mould placed back in the rack.
The following day these moulds that had been trimmed would be dismantled to remove the window box, these window boxes would be stacked on the floor around the work area, where they would be left to cure or harden.
The next day the cured window boxes could then be filed, sand papered and all edges cleaned, they would then be dusted down with a powder where they would be taken to the stores.
With all the filing and sand papering being carried out this inevitably created Asbestos dust, which settled on the benches on the floor and on your clothes and all other sections in the open factory area, the same dusting cleaning sawing and sandpapering created dust everywhere and on everything as no attempt by management to clean the area.
In the event that the window boxes or other asbestos items were damaged and refused acceptance in the stores they would be broken up and the pieces thrown in the bin.
When there was a strike you was made to tear open the sacks of asbestos ready for the hopper in an enclosed area in which asbestos dust and fibres were over all the machinery, up the walls and about half inch all over the floor. The air was thick with dust. At no time did British Uralite offer any breathing protection nor off any warnings.
Asbestos was also used as a building material in schools and homes between the 1950s and 1980s. While the dockyard and British Uralite have long since closed they have left behind a legacy of death.
Ray lost a wonderful friend that we visited. A 31 year old fit man that died with cancer ??? was this our first meeting with Mesothelioma.
What a day. I was going to relax but I have had many emails and asked to do write ups for different people. Dont worry I revel in people asking my opinions as a patient and a campaigner I love keep explaining and putting people right about Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness. I have a voice and I use it when ever I can.
I’m not a typist would you believe and yet I clonk away manly with two fingers. Its good exercise for the fingers, but I do have a great speed but thank goodness for spell checker.
There are so many problems Uk with Our Doctors being told they have to work 7 days. Surely a shift work system should be found and a good rota system. The very reason they say we need a 7 day week will be making the NHS unsafe. We will have Very tired Doctors and mistakes will be made.
Maybe if we had staff that would like to come back to work Part Time could do a weekend shift so they are with their children during the week.
Oh Jeremy, you really are being very silly. You’ve got your knickers in such a twist.
The BMA supports 7 day working. Weren’t you listening? Evidently not. Stamping your foot and shouting loudly ‘I’m going to impose 7 day working’ isn’t constructive. Play nicely. Listen.
You should really already know Jeremy, that as doctors serving the health needs of our patients, we are just one cog in a very large machine. My role is no more or less important than the professionals I work with. Nurses, physiotherapiststs, occupational therapsist, SALT, play therapists, porters, portage, lab technicians, radiographers, ultrasonographers, mid-wives, nursery nurses, neurophysiologists, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, secretaries, ward clerks, social workers, care workers and health care assistants to name but a handful. If you want me to do the same on a Sunday as a Tuesday, you need to get the rest of the team on board. The WHOLE team. To recruit and retain the number of multi-disciplinary professionals you require to run a 7 day health care system will require and increase in spending and the offer of training and salary progression for ALL MEMBERS of that team. I don’t know that David’s given you enough pocket money for that. I also think it’s downright rude that you belittle the roles of my colleagues by suggesting that I can offer the same quality of service without them. I can’t offer much without them at all. Get real.
Another thing, I do work weekends. That’s fine, it’s my job. Children get sick at the weekend and at night and its my duty to meet that need. My husband, one of those dreadful species of hospital consultants you have been berating, similarly works weekends. You ‘want that sense of vocation and professionalism brought back into the contract’. Oh, pipe down Jeremy. I’m already there and not because you’ve told me to but because I care.
Jeremy, listen. You made a lot of big promises back in May. But all these press releases full of hyperbole and devoid of solution aren’t getting us anywhere. I used to think you were just a very silly man. In my more cynical moments, I’m starting to worry that you’re less benign than just plain silly. Are you trying to discredit the BMA and senior doctors in the public eye? Are you trying to generate division between front-line staff and the social care component of the health system? Is this another step towards privatisation of the NHS through the strategy of divide and conquer? Either way, I wish you’d just shut up and listen.
Please share. This is an important article and affects all of us and our kids. It discusses my mums case and the dangers of asbestos in our schools and colleges. It can’t be ignored, action needs to be take now to protect students, teachers and all workers in these buildings. Please don’t let my mum die in vain x
We wont let that happen so Im sharing here tonight
Thursday, 16 July, 2015
Janet Finch-Saunders
Will the Minister make a statement on the safety of school and college buildings across Wales
Huw Lewis The Minister for Education and Skills
My thanks to the Member for Aberconwy. I am committed to the provision of safe, sustainable and inspiring learning environments. The twenty-first century schools and education programme represents a £1.4 billion investment over five years that will see the rebuilding and refurbishment of over 150 of our poorest condition schools and colleges in Wales.
Janet Finch-Saunders
A constituent, Mrs Gwyneth Bonnet, aged 60, sadly died at her home in January after a battle against the asbestos-related disease malignant mesothelioma, after previously working as a lecturer in what she described before her death as ‘asbestos cladded and rat-infested temporary buildings’ at Coleg Menai. Mr John Gittins, the coroner, said evidence provided by her indicated that the exposure to asbestos would have occurred during her time at Pencraig. Now, despite the fact these buildings have been demolished, the management at Coleg Menai still refuse to respond to concerns raised by the family in relation to this matter, but also in relation to others potentially exposed similarly at the time. Now, in the interests of full transparency and accountability, will you support my attempts to investigate this matter, and can you assure me what steps you are taking as Minister to safeguard our teaching staff and pupils from the danger of asbestos within our school or college buildings?
Huw Lewis
I’m more than happy, Presiding Officer, to look into the very sad case that the Member raises as an issue. I was, until this afternoon, unaware of that particular very sad case. I did meet my officials on 9 July to discuss the published review of asbestos management in schools by the UK Government Department for Education. I remind Members that the Welsh Government has no direct responsibility in this regard: it is a matter for the owners—usually local authorities—and for the Health and Safety Executive. Officials will review existing guidance for Wales with key stakeholders such as NHS Wales, HSE Wales and Welsh Government public health colleagues to ensure information remains current and accurate. My officials are currently organising this process with a view to completing it early in the new academic year. We will also maintain a watching brief during the design of the UK Government’s air sampling study.
Each contract is undertaken with the same professionalism whether it is large, small, short term or long term. Every contract is run by a fully qualified site supervisor and overseen by the management team. All asbestos removal operatives have face fit certificates, medicals and are fully trained to the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) standards with at least one operative per crew being a qualified supervisor. We have also achieved the Site Audit Accreditation Scheme quality assurance award from ARCA every year since its inception in 2003.
Air monitoring is undertaken by an independent laboratory so as to prevent any biased results being issued. Each laboratory used must be UKAS accredited to carry out the works. All asbestos is disposed of as fibrous or non fibrous waste,depending on the type of product. We have a full carriers license, enabling us to transport small amounts of waste to an approved toxic waste site if a skip is not required.
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