Howard Pym

Howard Pym (Honorary Consul), Indulis Berzins (ambassador of Latvia) and Lindsay Hoyle (member of parliament)

During an official visit to the Consulate of Latvia in manchester, his excellency Indulis Berzins was invited to a dinner, held in his honour at the Mawdsleys Hotel.

Pictured below is the meeting Howard had with the president of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Howard Pym, who is England's North honorary consul of Latvia, said the day was an experience that he will always remember.


Her Excellency the President of Latvia was the honoured guest of the Latvian buissness councill during a celebration dinner to welcome the president during her state visit to the uk. The council meet bimonthly to discuss economic affairs in both Latvia and the UK and discuss any new proposals for investment and business development between the two countries

Howard Pym with a party of dignitaries were treated to an amazing display of dog and horse skills on a visit to Lancashire's police headquarters.

The party included Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, Coun Cath Hoyle, Lord Hoyle and of course, the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Latvia, Howard Pym. who was accompanied by his wife, Mrs Pauline Pym.

Animal welfare co-ordinators Brian Twist and Lesley Jones welcomed the group to the Hutton base.

Mr Twist said : " It was a comprehensive tour of the HQ. First of all they visited the mounted branch and were welcomed by Sgt Tony Critchley who explained the training and duties of a mounted officer.

They watched officers and their horses in the training arena, followed by a video showing the teamwork of officers and horses on active duty on the streets.

We saw the methods they use for training such as patrolling crowds at football matches and concerts. It's amazing to see how the mounted branch has advanced since it started."

Intensive

From there, the group was introduced to Sgt Phil Kenyon and Insp Robin Howard who explained the intensive training required before a dog becomes a fully operational working dog.

He said: " The dogs showed everyone how they chase criminals and how they can disarm someone carrying a gun. They also did a practice run finding drugs and explosives."

The animal welfare department has been established by the police authority which has an independent panel who regularly do spot checks on the dogs and horses at various venues throughout the divisions.

While walking in the bush with some of the students from the sierra leone british students club we came upon a woman sat on a rock holding a very small baby in her arms.

The baby looked to be about 3/4 months old. On looking closer at the baby I noticed its eyes were looking high in the air and its arms were limp.

One of the students asked what illness the baby was suffering with in creol. The mother replied that
her baby was not ill it just had not eaten.

When asked how long ago did it eat, her mother replied 3 weeks ago. We asked why the lady had not
fed the child, the reply was ,'' I can not afford to feed it so I am waiting for it to die.'

At that point we took the baby from its mother and started to run to My jeep. Placing the baby on the seat we drove very fast, on dirt roads, until we arrived at a Chinese clinic. There were two doctors on site. But they could not speak English or Creole, so i phoned a Chinese friend in London, explained the position and gave my phone to one of the doctors.

My Chinese friend explained that the child had not eaten for three weeks! Very quickly, the doctor started to treat the child. It turned out that the baby was a little girl, not 3/4 months old, but one and a half years. I never knew that children that
were not fed properly or for long periods at a time are a little like a bonsai tree, if you don't feed them they will not grow.

The good news is, baby is making a slow but sure recovery, and now lives with its mother at one of the students homes .