Fete axed by swine flu fear
Friday 31st July 2009, 11:29AM BST.
A fete held by a Shropshire hospital’s league of friends has been axed due to the swine flu pandemic.
The event due to be held at Bridgnorth Hospital on September 5 would have also marked the group’s 50th anniversary.
But John Hurst-Knight, friends chairman, said they had taken the “difficult decision” to call off the fete, which makes at least £5,500, this year.
The group’s coffee shop is currently closed because the hospital is one of the five Shropshire centres for distributing and storing the tamiflu anti-viral drug given to swine flu sufferers.
Mr Hurst-Knight said: “We decided to cancel, but we are going ahead with the annual raffle. This is really where we get most of our money from the fete.”
Nationally, more than half of children taking Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares, researchers said today.
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A pathetic decision to call off the fete due to swine flu. Did they take medical advice? Are we all going to stay indoors for the next 3 years in case we catch something?
You have to be within 1 metre of someone with flu for over 10 mins to be a risk of catching it – how likely is that at a fete? Its about time we got this into perspective – life should go on. We don’t cancel gatherings in winter in case people catch seasonal flu which kills 3,000 – 12,000 annually so why with swine flu which has killed only 29?
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knee jerk reaction perhaps – more over reaction – are all those envolved currently suffering from pig flu?
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Don’t panic! Don’t panic!!
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My son has gone to the Sonisphere festival this weekend where they expect thousands of rock fans! Be interesting to find out what the League of Friends have based their decission on and what risk assessment they used. They are giving out the wrong message to the local community, especially as the date is about 4 weeks away.
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Being as things work so smoothly in the UK nowadays why not get the Met Office to forecast the next pandemic wave. Then we could all safely ingore it and thereby ‘get a life’ before we die. Brilliant me..sometimes..
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I too think this swine flu business has really got out of hand, All of the small number who have died had underlying symptoms which ordinary winter flu would have killed them anyway. I am given to understand that the doctors surgery in Bayston Hill has cleared all of the magazines off the table in the waiting room because of the swine flu ‘risk’. I think that a healthy person is under no more threat of catching swine flu than ordinary flu providing they take the normal precautions as they would do anyway to combat ordnary seasonal flu
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richard you dont have to be in contact with someone for 10 minutes..i’ve just had swine flu and its not pleasent…
“If someone coughs or sneezes and they do not cover it, those droplets can spread about one metre (3ft). If you are very close to the person you might breathe them in.
Or, if someone coughs or sneezes into their hand, those droplets and the virus within them are easily transferred to surfaces that the person touches, such as door handles, hand rails, telephones and keyboards. If you touch these surfaces and touch your face, the virus can enter your system, and you can become infected.”
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A friend of mine is a telecoms engineer and does a lot of flying round Europe and elsewhere. He says that of all the places he goes to on a regular basis, the one place that has blown this up out of all proportion is – surprise, surprise – the UK.
It’s surely not nice for those that have had it – look at what Katie says. But for the vast majority it is little more than a mild annoyance. I take it you’ve never seen anyone REALLY ill Katie? I have. Swine flu doesn’t come anywhere near close, so without diminising your experience at all, I think you need to get a grip.
As for the cancellation of the fete, I imagine the organisers would have been criticised whatever they did. As I understand it, their advice to cancel came primarily from the NHS Health Trust. What a surprise. I’m only surprised they haven’t tried to cancel the Saturday market in Bridgnorth High St too.
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Jeepers…. i’m offended by your comment..my father died of a very bad illness, is that ill enough for you. apart from that your right but i never said swine flu was bad i just said it wasnt pleasent..i was only saying how its spread
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this is the nanny state gone made, i blame the EU
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I too found Jeepers comment offensive. By no means did Katie imply swine flu was terrible illness yet you chose, like so many before you to dismiss another’s comments just because you dont agree with them. How very narrow minded. You’ve seen very ill people – well bully for you!
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Jeepers comments seem a bit unfair. some people have been very ill with swine flu, how can you say it’s just a mild illness. I’m sure the families of those who have died feel very differently. Most people seem to be better after 4 days, but i know a few parents with children in hospital at the moment. We shouldn’t be over reacting, but at the same time each persons experience is different.
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