Watchet is of great antiquity.

Club.
Sport and Entertainment.—Bathing, boating, cricket, bowls, tennis, angling, hunting and motor-coach excursions. The Bowling Club, with a ladies’ section, adjoins Doniford Road. The Tennis Club is in Govier’s Lane. Visitors welcomed.
Watchet may be reached from Minehead by rail or road, 8 miles. Motorists go by the main road, turning off at Washford Cross just by one of the B.B.C.’s high-power Transmitting Stations, whose grey buildings with beautifully kept gardens and aerial masts 500 feet high stand out strikingly.
Watchet is a busy little seaport town, with a population of about 2,600, and having large paper mills. The harbour was almost destroyed in 1900, and much damage was done to shipping, but the inhabitants pluckily rose to the occasion, got the town formed into an urban district, and have since rebuilt the harbour. There is an esplanade, and a breezy pleasure-ground, recreation and War Memorial Ground close by. The climate is bracing. Good sea fishing, bowling, tennis and cricket are available, and the Quantock Staghounds and West Somerset Foxhounds often meet within easy distance of the town.
Watchet is of great antiquity. It was certainly a port before Bristol was known. The Danes, who harassed all these coasts, landed at Watchet, then Wacedport, on various occasions between a.d, 918 and 997. A spot called Battlegore, between Watchet and Williton, is said to have been the site of a pitched battle between Watchet men and the invaders in 988, and here are still to be seen large tumuli and two enormous stones. The local story is that the stones were cast from the Quantocks by the Devil and a giant who had engaged in a throwing match, but from excavations carried out in 1931, which revealed a third stone, it was considered that they originally formed a dolmen and the tumuli were found to be Bronze Age barrows.
In Saxon times Watchet had a mint, and issued its own coins. Later, the town was represented in Parliament and had a Mayor,but all these glories have departed. Watchet was to a limited extent concerned in the war between King and Parliament.
On each side of the harbour are fine cliffs, in some places beautifully engrained with red and white alabaster from which local sculptors fashion attractive bookends, ashtrays and the like.

devon destruction

bdonbrook

Doctors are being told to adopt a new policy of writing letters that are easier for patients to understand.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Doctors are being told to adopt a new policy of writing letters that are easier for patients to understand.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges says too often correspondence contains complex medical jargon rather than plain and simple English.

Using the phrase "twice daily" to explain the dosing of a medicine is better than the Latin abbreviation "bd", for example.

Patients should ask their local hospital to comply, the academy says.

Keep it simple

The Please Write to Me initiative is aimed mainly at doctors working in outpatient clinics, although it is best practice for all clinicians who need to write clinical letters.

Doctors are being asked to write directly to patients, rather than sending them a copy of a letter penned to their GP.

The academy says this should help avoid blunders or offence caused by writing about patients in the third person.

It cites the example of a surgeon branded sexist after praising a father for "manfully stepping in" to take his daughter to a hospital appointment when his wife was too ill.

Keep it suitable

Another consideration is the tone of the letter. A familiar style, such as: "It was a pleasure to meet you and your husband for the first time," might sometimes be appropriate - but at other times a more distant or formal style might be appreciated, say the guidelines.

Doctors are asked to avoid potentially stigmatising words: "'You have diabetes,' is better than 'You are diabetic.'"

They should think about softening the impact of potentially sensitive information by using a more non-committal style, as with: "During the examination, the tremor and stiffness in your right arm suggest that you have Parkinson's disease."

And any medical words should be translated in plain English. For example:

• "Dyspnoea" should instead be "breathlessness"
• oedema = swelling or fluid
• seizure = fit
• syncope = faint
• acute = sudden or short-term
• chronic = long-term or persistent
• cerebral = brain
• coronary = heart
• hepatic = liver
• pulmonary = lung
• renal = kidney
• paediatric = children

Hospital doctors should also consider telephoning the patients rather than breaking bad news in the letter if test results are potentially upsetting, the academy says.

The initiative is being led by Dr Hugh Rayner, a kidney specialist, who first started writing directly to patients in 2005.

He said: "The change may seem small but it has a big effect.

"Writing to patients rather than about them changes the relationship between doctor and patient.

"It involves them more in their care and leads to all sorts of benefits.

"Millions of clinic letters are written every month in the NHS so this change could have a big impact."

The Royal College of GPs is also on board. Vice-chair Prof Kamila Hawthorne said: "I have seen a number of patients who have asked me to 'translate' the letter they have received from the hospital, which has been little more than a medical summary.

"By hospital doctors writing any letters directly to patients, with their GP copied in so we are always aware of what is happening regarding our patient's care, it should make the process more patient-centred, and make them feel more involved in their care, which will be beneficial for everyone."

Venvill

“They do also present that the soil of divers moors, commons and wastes, lying for the most part about the same forest of Dartmoor and usually called by the name of the Common of Devonshire, is parcel of the Duchy of Cornwall, and that the foresters and other officers of his majesty and his progenitors Kings and Queens of England have always accustomed to drive the said commons, moors and wastes of other men (lying in like manner about the said forest) home to the corn hedges and leap yeates round about the same Common and forest, some few places only exempted, and that the said foresters and officers have taken and gathered to his majesty’s use at the times of drift within the same commons such profits and other duties as they have and ought to do within the said forest; how be it they intend not hereby to prejudice the particular rights which any persons do claim for themselves or their tenants in any commons or several grounds in or adjoining to the said common or forest, but do leave the same to judgment of the law and to the justness of their titles which they make to the same.

“More they do present that all the King’s tenants which are Venvill have accustomed and used to have and take time out of mind in and upon the forest of Dartmoor all things that may do them good, saving vert (which they take to be green oak) and venson, paying for the same their Venvill rents and other dues as hath been time out of mind accustomed, and doing their suits and service to his majesty’s courts of the manor and forest of Dartmoor aforesaid, and also excepting night rest, for the which every one of them have of long time out of mind -yearly paid or ought to pay 3 d., commonly called a grasewait, and also to have and take tyme out of mind common of pasture for all manner of beasts, sheep, cattle in and upon all the moors, wastes, and commons usually called the Common of Devonshire, and also turves, vagges, heath, stone, coal and other things according to their customs, paying nothing for the same but the rents, dues and services aforesaid, nevertheless their meaning is that the Venvill men ought not to turn or put into the said forest or common at any time or times any more or other beasts and cattle than they can or may usually winter in and upon their tenements and grounds lying within in Venvill.”

It is not always easy to determine precisely those parishes that were described as being in Venville; such parishes were said to be

a hole bored through the gristle of his right ear

GROUP 11—SOCIETY
                          
oath, to return, forthwith, the next straight way, to - the place where he was born, or where he last dwelt the space of three years, and there put himself to labour, like as a true man oughteth to do.”
If he was caught a second time begging while able to work, he must have a hole bored through the gristle of his right ear— the instruction in a later renewal of the statute being that the instrument must be a hot iron, and the size of the mutilation “ the compass of an inch about.” For a third defence he could be put to death, “ as a felon and enemy of the commonwealth.” Under the same statute “ all idle children ” over five years of age could be “ appointed to masters of industry, or other craft or labour, to be taught.”
When Slavery was a Punishment for the Saucy Child

These laws were made more stringent in the reign of Edward VI., the vagrant, for a first offence, being branded with the letter V ; for the second offence with the letter S (slave) ; and the third penalty was death. Anyone could take away the child of a “ loiterer and idle wanderer,” and bring it up till twenty, if a female child, and till twenty-four if a male, and appropriate the produce of its labours ; and if it should at any time resent chastisement by its master, the penalty was that it should remain a slave for life.
This statute, be it said, for the relief of that age from some measure of odium, only remained in force two years, but it shows the governing spirit of the period.
The punitive laws, with forced apprenticeship, and fixed wages for which every man must work when work was demanded of him, of course, proved ineffective, and presently—in the reign of Henry VIII.— arrangements were made for voluntary alms to be contributed for relief of the poor, after persuasion, on Sundays and holidays ; but, this being a failure, collections for “ the poor in very deed ” were made compulsory in the reign of Elizabeth, with possible imprisonment for non-compliance.
A Poor Law that Remained in Force fos;
Twenty-Three Decades
Later, shortly before the death of the great queen, the Poor Law, as it has been known ever since, was in essence established —that is to say, in each parish all the inhabitants were taxed compulsorily, overseers of the poor were appointed,. and arrangements for collecting and distributing the funds were made. Work was to be provided for those who could work, and
relief was to be given to those who could not work. Poor children were to be trained to some handicraft, and the idle were threatened with punishment. The difficulty, of course, was in finding work when workmen could not find it for themselves—and that difficulty was never overcome.
The Elizabethan law remained in force, with modifications, till 1834, but became less and less fitted to deal with the needs of the country as industrial conditions changed, until during fifty years preceding the Poor Law of 1834 it became gradually swamped by gross abuses. Early in the eighteenth century (1723) the distribution of the funds gathered under the overseers’ levy had become so unsound that indoor relief had to be insisted on as a safeguard, and the applicants were “ offered the House ” as a test of the reality of their poverty. The parish apprenticeship system became a scandal, and a law was passed for the protection of apprentices. But the full inadequacy of the scheme was not revealed until, towards the end of the eighteenth century, three great disturbing influences came simultaneously into operation.
The Changed Economic Conditions that Overthrew the Elizabethan Poor Law
These were, first, the Enclosure Acts, which dispossessed the rural labourers of their common rights and made them wholly dependent on their daily wage. The law that there should be four acres of land to every cottage was repealed. The change of the land into pasturage reduced the number of labourers needed, and' such as were left largely lost their share in the land through the Enclosure Acts. Between 1710 and 1760 only about three hundred thousand acres were enclosed from the commons, but between 1760 and 1843 nearly seven million acres were enclosed.
Simultaneously with this restriction of rural labour a second great change in urban employment and village industries was going, on through the invention of machinery and the use of steam. Hand labour of all kinds was superseded, and could not be absorbed by the new forms of manufacture, nor could it readily adapt itself to any of the requirements of the period. At the same time such labour as had a chance in the industrial Or agricultural market could not defend itself by combination, for all united action on the part of workmen was forbidden as conspiracy by \he law. This throwing- out of workmen, by shrinkage and change in employment, was accompanied, too, by a great rise in the
3767

Leave London and you may find

Leave London and you may find the English, London is a dirty filthy place

Britain and Ireland were known as the tin islands........to the greeks ........................The Codex = Ptolemy's map of the British Isles

Albion (Ancient Greek: Ἀλβιών) is the olde known name of the island of Great Britain.

Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island. The name for Scotland in the Celtic languages is related to Albion: Alba in Scottish Gaelic, Albain (genitive Alban) inIrish,Nalbin in Manx and Alban in Welsh, Cornish and Breton, These names were later Latinised as Albania and Anglicised as Albany, which were once alternative names for Scotland.

what is PCDH19 epilepsy

•  According to Hannah Deacon, her son suffered the first attack when he was just eight months old. As he kept growing, the seizures kept multiplying."You get woken up in the middle of the night by a terrible scream. They come in clusters – between 20 and 30 seizures a day for up to five days at a time," Deacon was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

The 38-year-old mother said she had found a doctor
 in Holland who was willing to prescribe cannabis oil
 and hence they shifted there in September 2017.

"Nothing short of a miracle," Deacon said as the
 medication brought the boy's seizures down to
 about one a month.

Deacon, a hairdresser, said as they were running
 out of money, they had to shift back to Britain
. However, after shifting, the medication could 
not be continued as the drug is illegal in the country.

Deacon said: "We have proved this treatment 
is successful for him. This is a child's life and health. 
We need this treatment desperately."

Baroness Meacher, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drugs Reform
, told the Daily Mail: "It is scandalous that a six-year-old boy is prevented from having the
 medicine that can transform 
his life."

However, the Home Office on Saturday night (17 February) said it would not issue a licence for
 the personal consumption of a "Schedule 1 drug" such as cannabis.

Deacon has now created a Facebook page called as "Alfie's Hope" to help support
 her son's medication.

He's held down and injected

Requests for a medical cannabis licence to help a boy whose rare form of epilepsy improved after taking the drug have been denied by the Home Office.

Six-year-old Alfie Dingley, from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, suffers up to 30 violent seizures a day.

His parents want to treat him with medical cannabis oil, which is illegal in the UK.

The Home Office said the drug "cannot be practically prescribed, administered or supplied to the public".

A spokesperson added that it can only be used for research.

Alfie's mother, Hannah Deacon, said "you've got to fight for your kids, I want to know that I've done everything I can".

Members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on drug policy reform is calling on the government to assist with Alfie's plight.

Image copyrightMAGGIE DEACON/PA WIRE

Image captionMs Deacon said Alfie's cannabis dose was "very small", just three drops of the oil

Ms Deacon said Alfie went to the Netherlands to take a cannabis-based medication in September.

She said that while there, the medication, prescribed by a paediatric neurologist, saw his seizures reduce in number, duration and severity.

At one point while in the UK, Alfie had 3,000 seizures and 48 hospital visits in a year, but while abroad he went 24 days without a single attack.

"It's very rare and very aggressive, there's only nine boys in the world with Alfie's condition," Ms Deacon said.

"We never imagined how well it would work. He's just a six-year-old boy, he deserves a happy life. We've found something that makes him happy and now we've got to take that away."

Ms Deacon said his cannabis dose was "very small" and he was taking three drops of the oil, which is made using whole plant cannabis.

Image copyrightMAGGIE DEACON/PA WIRE

Image captionAt one point, Alfie had 3,000 seizures and 48 hospital visits in a year

Alfie's mother said the steroids he currently takes in hospital could eventually cause his organs to fail if he keeps taking them at the rate he is.

"He doesn't know any different, he's had a very traumatic life. He's held down and injected," she said.

With the Dutch cannabis medication, it is estimated Alfie would have about 20 seizures a year.

He stayed with his parents in a holiday camp in the Netherlands to receive the treatment, but without medical insurance in the country they had to return home in January.

The APPG wants Home Secretary Amber Rudd to issue a licence for him to continue taking the medication.

Group co-chair, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said: "It would be heartless and cruel not to allow Alfie to access the medication.

"Parliament really must look at reforming our laws to allow access to cannabis for medical purposes, which has huge public support."

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionMPs have called for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to issue a medical cannabis licence

The Home Office said it recognised that people with chronic pain and debilitating illnesses are "looking to alleviate their symptoms".

A spokesperson added: "However, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards before being placed on the market, so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.

"Cannabis is listed as a Schedule 1 drug, as in its raw form it is not recognised in the UK as having any medicinal benefit and is therefore subject to strict control restrictions.

"This means it cannot be practically prescribed, administered, or supplied to the public in the UK, and can only be used for research under a Home Office licence.

"The Home Office would not issue a licence to enable the personal consumption of a Schedule 1 drug."

How dangerous is amlodipine?

Image captionThe patient was prescribed Amitriptyline but a Boots pharmacy gave him Amlodipine

A patient has described suffering "horrendous" symptoms for three days after a Boots pharmacy gave him the wrong medication.

The 51-year-old was prescribed a drug to help with his insomnia, but was given one for high blood pressure with a similar name.

He believes Boots pharmacy staff are overworked and this led to the mistake.

Boots said the pharmacy in Basingstoke was "fully staffed" and it took patient safety "very seriously".

The patient's symptoms lasted for three days and included a "nasty, thumping, unbearable headache" and "constant nausea".

He contacted the BBC following an investigation into the Nottingham-based company, in which some pharmacy staff said they were under too much pressure and feared mistakes would be made.

The man has been getting medication from the same pharmacy in Basingstoke every month for 14 years and said he had "seen the pattern of them being overwhelmed".

Image captionThe patient said he went through a "horrendous" experience after Boots gave him the wrong medication

The person who gave him the wrong medication was "looking a bit frazzled", he said, and he "chalked it up to them being really stressed".

WATCH: Boots: Pharmacists under Pressure?

Boots pharmacists raise staffing concerns

"It is shocking that this happened to me, and what I went through was horrendous," said the patient.

"Had that been someone else who took different medication to me, they could have died as a result."

What happened to the patient?

• 14 December - The patient was given the wrong medication - amlodipine instead of amitriptyline - at a Boots pharmacy in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
• 17 December - He took two pills at bedtime but had a "nagging doubt" so googled the name, realised it was a completely different medication, then called 111 and was told he was on the "borderline beginning of toxicity".
• 18 December - He "felt like someone was standing on my chest and I was having to take big deep breaths every few minutes throughout the entire night and following day as the medicine was making me feel like I couldn't catch my breath". By the afternoon he was feeling the same symptoms "with an added massive headache that had hit me when I woke up after a brief hour or so of sleep".
• 19 December - His "nasty, thumping, unbearable headache" lasted until the afternoon and he "couldn't sleep hardly at all" during that time, "had absolutely no appetite and felt a constant nausea".
• 20 December - He still had a "fuzzy muddled head" feeling, a constant pain in his right calf and a shortness of breath that caused him to periodically take "big deep sighing breaths to cope".

This type of a mistake is known as a "dispensing error".

Three people died between May 2012 and November 2013 following dispensing errors at Boots pharmacies - Douglas Lamond, 86, who died in May 2012, Arlene Devereaux, who died on her 71st birthday in November 2012, and Margaret Forrest, 86, who died in November 2013.

Inquests and a fatal accident inquiry were held into the deaths, and understaffing was not found to have contributed to any of them.

Image copyrightFAMILY PHOTOS

Image captionDouglas Lamond, Arlene Devereux and Margaret Forrest died following dispensing errors at Boots pharmacies

The Basingstoke patient said: "From what I saw that day, when I was given the wrong medication, there clearly is a staffing issue.

"I noticed how the place was slammed with people waiting for their medication as does happen quite often.

"I noticed that as usual the queue went slowly because it seemed like the dispensing assistants at the counters were all mega busy."

How dangerous is amlodipine?

Dr Rupert Payne from Bristol Medical School said it is "very difficult to know" whether the drug could have been fatal if the patient had carried on taking it, as patients can "vary considerably in the side effects they get with drugs".

"Virtually any drug is potentially fatal in overdose," he said.

Dr Payne said 10mg of amlodipine would be a "fairly standard dose". The patient took two 10mg pills, and the sticker on the packet advised him to take up to three.

"If it was two 10mg tablets he had, that would be more than the recommended dose and would be more likely to cause side effects," said Dr Payne.

"Common side effects in the short term could include sleeping difficulties, dizziness, headache, flushing and racing heart."

Richard Bradley, pharmacy director for Boots UK, said: "Boots takes patient safety very seriously and I was sorry to hear about [the patient's] experience.

"I can assure you that this incident was reported to the Superintendent Pharmacist's Office when it was highlighted to the pharmacy team in Basingstoke and a local investigation has been undertaken.

"Pharmacies are generally busier in the run up to Christmas as patients want to make sure they have their medicines, but this particular pharmacy was fully staffed.

"We have been in touch with [the patient] directly to apologise and discuss his concerns; we have learned from his experience to put further measures in place in the pharmacy to help prevent this type of mistake happening in the future."