The toast is safe drinking
12:44pm Friday 6th July 2007 in Your Town By Angela Kelly
fancy a tipple?: Lesley Jones on Bradshawgate, Bolton, toasting with water the NHS campaign poster which bears her name
LESLEY Jones toasts the launch of a health campaign urging women to keep an eye on how much alcohol they drink . . . with a glass of water.
For Lesley, aged 41, who is a specialist in public health and her colleague Lesley Hardman agreed to provide the "inspiration" behind the poster - "just to help remind people that the levels of alcohol we drink each week can quickly become a habit".
The two women, who both work for the town's Primary Care Trust, are involved in the current "Hope You're Well" campaign.
This is aimed at encouraging people aged over 45 to go to their GP for a check-up and to find ways to improve their health, possibly including sessions with a health trainer.
One area targeted by posters on bus shelters and buses is alcohol intake, and just how so-called ordinary drinking habits can quickly breach safe weekly guidelines. The Government recommends that women do not exceed two or three units a day.
One unit is equivalent to a small glass of wine, half a pint of beer or one pub measure of spirits.
Ironically, this poster at a bus stop in Bradshawgate is directly outside women's health club, Fitness First.
"We didn't mind the marketing using our name at all because it personalised it," Lesley said.
"We just hope it helps to get across how important it is to have a couple of alcohol-free days each week, and to keep a check on just how much you drink."
The campaign is already putting health trainers into GP surgeries and targeting weight management, smoking and mental wellbeing among the health aspects for local people.
But the posters have already had an effect on the two Lesleys. "I always enjoy a glass or two of wine but I definitely watch what I drink more carefully now," Lesley said.
