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192 AACP Activities Following the China study tour two members of the Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists spoke on the radio about medicine in China - Val Hopwood on Radio 4 and Meri Jones on three programmes to England and Wales. Several of our members also got articles in the papers. The AACP validated course got off to a good start in January with 17 physio- therapists enrolled. The c o u m is being run part-time over two years and has been awarded 80 PACE points. Each student will be doing a research project. In February Val Hopwood and Sara Jeevanjee were in the Carribean where they were teaching acupuncture to physiotherapists in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The AACPllAAPT weekend conference is to be held this month at Reading. March 27 is on sports injuries and March 28 on gynaecology. The conference is open to non-members and we are hoping that a number of doctors will be coming as we have PGEA approval. For further information telephone Maureen Lovesey (0442 864243). Continence Foundation Move The new address for the Continence Foundationis The Continence Foundation, Basement, 2 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2PH (tel071404 6875, fax 071404 6876). Raft Wins Invention Prize Twelve prizes were presented to competitors for the Toshiba Year of Invention awards last month by William Waldegrave MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Winners of the first prize of f5,OOO in the small business category were Eddy Anderson and Alan Oughton for their ‘Floatsation’ raft. Two layers of plastic balls enclosed in a net support the body while water passes through them, changing position to adapt to the shape of the body. Primarily designed for people with disabilities, the rafts are also expected to appeal to the leisure market. A lighter version is also being developed for children. The rafts, which can hold two users at a time, are expected to sell for about f300 each. Other first prizes were awarded for a folding bicycle trailer, a breathing monitor for babies, and a bioactive bone substitute material. Above: Eddy Anderson demonstrates the Floatsation raft Mrs Sylvia Scott MCSP Many colleagues from all areas of physiotherapy, ACPM, ACPOG, superin- tendents, and members in the north-east of England will be saddened to hear of the death of Sylvia Scott, retired District physiotherapist from Gateshead. Tragically she was only able to enjoy ten weeks of retirement, when she collapsed and died at her son’s home in Edinburgh. Her husband Allan and family have taken great solace from her death not being in vain, through the transplantation of organs so that other lives could continue during their great loss. Sylvia trained in the mid 1950s at the Newcastle School of Physiotherapy, then part of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, and upon qualificationshe first joined the staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Gates- head. Her professional life moved to Shotley Bridge in North West Durham when she and her new husband set up home in Consett. Allan and Sylvia had five childrenwhose births led to periods of time away from physiotherapy, but that never affected Sylvia’s deep-rooted love of her job and innate desire to care for and help others. Sylvia returned to Gateshead in 1977 as superintendent and rose to the post of District physiotherapist during the 1982 reorganisation. She led and guided the service through the eighties with its many changes and developments, yet always stayed very close to the patients - the people of Gateshead -for whom she had love and great compassion. She will be greatly missed by all her friends and colleagues and we are presently talking to the Newcastle School, at the University of Northumbria, with a view to funding from the collection in lieu of flowers a prize for students in Sylvia’s memory. Marian C Morrison MCSP Mrs Hilda Shannon MCSP (nde Cook) Hilda Shannon died in July 1992 aged 76 years. She trained at The National and University College Hospital, and, prior to her marriage, worked at the Royal Free Hospital, and then as a private practitioner in Berkshire. The last twenty years of her professional career were devoted to paediatrics, and she was superintendent physiotherapist of the Mary Dorrien Unit, Royal United Hospital, Bath, until her retirement in 1W. After years of providing a physiotherapy service to childrenwith cerebral palsy, with very inadequate facilities, she made a considerablecontribution to the establish- ment of this multidisciplinary unit which opened in 1968. She helped assemble a team of physio- therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists to provide a compre- hensive service to children with a wide range of physical disabilities, and support to their families. A school was also established within the unit. During her retirement she made three visits to the Sultanate of Oman, where her daughter Sarah worked as a physiother- apist. Hilda helped with the formation of a treatment programme for handicapped children and taught and worked with the first physiotherapy students in Oman. She was also associated with the Riding for the Disabled group in Bath until shortly before her death. She will be remembered for her enthusiasm and dedication to paediatrics. Win Buston MCSP Miss Margaret Cook MCSP The head physiotherapist at Bridge of Earn Hospital until she retired about forty years ago, Miss Margaret Cook died last month at the age of 101. Miss Cook was the daughter of a minister and spent much of her childhood at Balhousie Castle. Physiotherapy, March 1993, vol79, no3
