So you want to be 100?

Hannah Cripps, Miriam Shenker, Rose Carr, Dolly Phillips and Eva Lewis have plenty in common. They all consider themselves to have a positive outlook on life; they are fiercely independent; none smokes or drinks… and all have reached 100 years of age or more.

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Marc Sidney muscles his way to a new British record

Weightlifter Marc Sidney has set a new British bench-press record at the Midlands championship.

North London-based Mr Sidney, 45, has been bench-pressing competitively for the past two years. At last month’s championship, he lifted 170kg — one-and-a-half times his own bodyweight of 115kg — or, as he puts it, the equivalent of 375 bags of sugar or two large men.

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Nori Graham offers some advice to those coping with relatives who have Alzheimer’s

The Alzheimer’s Society forecasts that more than a million people in the UK will have dementia by 2025. Can anything be done to limit the impact of this debilitating condition?

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The mayor says Chai

New Barnet mayor Councillor John Marshall has chosen Chai Cancer Care as one of his mayoral charities.

Councillor Marshall said he had long been impressed by its work. “I remember the comments of a friend whose wife was dying, who said he wished they had discovered Chai earlier.”

Hoping that the recognition would enhance Chai’s profile, the mayor added that there was no financial target “as you can never raise enough for such a good cause”.

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£2.2 care project launched

Eighty Jewish Care supporters gathered in Edgware on Wednesday to mark the start of a £2.2 million mental health resource project.

The foundation stone for the Martin Cohen Centre for Wellbeing was laid by Marcia Feldman, the driving force behind the scheme.

It will herald a significant change in the charity’s delivery of services for those with mental health needs, moving away from the traditional model of a day care centre and offering a wide range of treatments and therapies.

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Changes planned for Ravenswood

Changes are planned to Norwood’s Ravenswood Village residential community in Berkshire in line with revised government policy that only those with complex disabilities should be placed in such communities.

The moves also reflect the findings of an internal review which have been shown to staff.

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Winehouse's six-day drugs 'cure'

Amy Winehouse is to go to Israel for drug rehabilitation, the JC can exclusively reveal, write Michal Levertov in Tel Aviv and Candice Krieger. A senior Israeli official confirmed to this newspaper that the singer, who is battling a well-documented drug addiction, will fly to Israel within weeks to undergo treatment at an Israeli clinic.

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School place joy for James

A council has finally agreed to fund a place for a boy with special needs at a Jewish residential school, after he was left with no school to attend for more than six months.

James: now happy at Delamere

James Sugarman, eight, who has attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, as well as autism and moderate learning difficulties, stopped attending a local school near where he lives in Edgware, Middlesex, last year.

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Boots gearing up for a big move into Israel

Boots the chemist is sending a major purchasing delegation to Tel Aviv next month to buy innovative products from Israel’s healthcare manufacturers.

The company is also understood to be negotiating with New Pharm, Israel’s second-largest pharmacy chain, to rebrand the shops as Boots Israel.

New Pharm currently has 56 stores throughout Israel and 30 concessions in Hamashbir Lazarchan department stores.

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John Marks calls for abortion laws to be made more lenient

John Marks, a former chair of the British Medical Association, has welcomed this week’s decision by MPs to reject a cut in the time limit for abortions. He is now calling for current laws to be liberalised towards abortion on demand.

Dr Marks, 82, one of the UK’s best-recognised medical names, tells People: “I see no reason to involve two doctors. I believe it is a matter of choice for the woman. The life that matters is the potential mother, not the unborn foetus. There’s no contest.”

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