Deborah Booth wins first prize in alcohol awareness competition

Councillor Janet Emsley (centre) with prize winners Sopphia and Deborah Booth

Deborah Booth took first place and £50 in cash in a quiz that was designed to test knowledge of the health risks caused by excessive drinking and give new insights into ways of tackling alcohol harm.

Deborah's idea is to create a campaign where children and young people encourage their parents to give up drinking by telling them how it makes them feel.

She said: “I entered the competition partly because I love doing quizzes but also because this is such an important issue where the consequences of alcohol misuse can have devastating effects on families and children.”

Deborah donated her prize to the Christmas Toy Appeal, which helps give local children living in poverty a great Christmas Day.

The quiz questions aimed to highlight the health risks associated with alcohol such as cancer, brain damage and depression as well as the impact it can have on emergency services.

Residents completed the quiz for their chance to win one of seven prizes including cash, pantomime tickets, gift vouchers and goody bags.

Other winning tips included raising awareness with children from a young age, putting more harm minimisation tips on posters in clubs or pubs and asking real people suffering from alcoholism to tell their stories.

Councillor Janet Emsley, Rochdale Borough Council’s cabinet member for culture, health and wellbeing, said: “I was really pleased to see so many of our residents taking part in this quiz and giving us some really interesting and creative tips on how to reduce the harmful relationships some people in our borough have with alcohol.

“I know that we learnt a lot about how we can improve our support services and I’m really looking forward to seeing some great awareness raising campaigns come from your ideas, so a big ‘thank you’ to you all.”