Despite no guarantee of a dry, sunny summer, we are a nation of optimists and continue to plan events for which the great outdoors is a key element. From weddings to major sporting fixtures, village fetes to rock festivals, the prospect of battling with wind, rain and mud does not seem to daunt our craving for events al fresco.

But there are times when even the most indefatigable of spirits is defeated by the weather. Just last month, the first official beach wedding in the UK, held in horizontal rain on a beach in Bournemouth, was almost cancelled; and that great equestrian tradition, Badminton Horse Trials, was called off.

While there is nothing we can do to change the weather there are options for us to protect ourselves from loss if rain – or, indeed, any natural event (remember Eyjafjallajokull?) – stops play.

Tickets to big outdoor events do not come cheap. Costs for Badminton ranged between £36 and £126 for four people, depending on the day. For rock festivals it’s even more – Bestival on the Isle of Wight costs between £170 and £299 per adult; T in the Park in Scotland costs £199 per adult. If such events are cancelled, because of the weather or for any other reason, you could be seriously out of pocket.

However, when you buy a ticket for a sporting, music or theatre event you do have certain rights.

Like most goods and services you are entitled to a refund if the event has been cancelled, rescheduled or has changed location – this is because the organisers have failed to provide what they promised to sell you.

Agencies that sell tickets on behalf of event organisers may also be members of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), a trade association for ticket sellers. When an event is cancelled STAR members must refund the ticket’s face value. However, all is not that straightforward – you should check a ticket seller’s terms and conditions before you buy your ticket. This is because, while they must refund the value of the ticket, they do not have to refund any extra fees they might have charged you to handle the sale.

If you have paid by credit card then, subject to certain restrictions, you may be able to reclaim the cost of the tickets from your credit card company.

If you are organising an event over the summer, either as a business or a private individual, you can protect yourself and your event by taking out the correct type of insurance.

There is a wide selection of insurance cover available, and in addition to insurance that covers liability risks organisers should also consider two further options.

The first relates to business interruption. This covers the loss of income that an event organiser suffers as the result of a physical or technological disruption. It incorporates not only natural occurrences, such as flood or fire, but also loss of power or a telecommunications failure.

The second is cancellation insurance, which covers and loss of income and reimburses any expenses that are incurred from an event that is unavoidably postponed, cancelled or relocated due to circumstances beyond the control of the organiser.

It may be that the uncertainty of British weather over the summer means that you are considering leaving it all behind and travelling to sunnier climes. However, even here Mother Nature can throw a curve ball that can scupper the best laid plans.

Adverse weather conditions, volcanic eruptions, can all lead to flight cancellations. If you are at the airport and your flight is cancelled, your position depends on where your airline is based and where you are flying to and from.

If yours is an EU-based airline, or a non EU-based airline flying from an EU airport, you will be protected by the Denied Boarding Regulation (DBR). For a delayed flight the DBR will give you two free phone calls, free meals and refreshments, and overnight accommodation if it is required.

For a cancelled flight, the DBR will provide a refund of the full cost of the flight within seven days, re-routing to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, or re-routing to your final destination at a time convenient to you.

A cancelled flight may also entitle you to additional compensation, the amount of which will depend on the distance you would have travelled and the alternative flights you were offered.

However, you cannot claim addition compensation if your airline offers re-routing on a flight that leaves no more than one hour before the flight you originally booked and is scheduled to arrive no later than two hours later than the original flight. There is also no additional compensation if the airline can show that the cancellation was caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures have been taken’ – this includes bad weather.

As King Canute learned with the tides – there is no commanding the natural world to do your bidding. But it is reassuring to know that there are some things you can do to ensure that you are not too much out of pocket if your summer plans are cancelled by the weather. But then again, the British Summer wouldn’t be the British summer if at some point we weren’t standing in a marquee, clutching a glass of Pimms and watching the skies empty on to a muddy field!

The research is supported by funding from the National Institute for Health Research Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR PenCLAHRC). It is published today (00:01hrs BST Monday 7^th May 2012) on-line in Diabetes Care.

Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes. It occurs when high blood sugar levels damage the cells in the retina and, if not treated, can lead to blindness. In all but some cases diabetic retinopathy has a typically slow rate of progression and can take years to develop.

The research team developed a model that simulated the progression of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes and related screening, in order to predict the rates of retinopathy-related sight loss. The model used data from the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust in the South West of the UK and the research team generated comparative 15-year forecasts to assess the differences between current screening policies and those proposed by the findings of the study.

The study concluded that it is safe to screen type 2 diabetes patients who have not been diagnosed with retinopathy every two years rather than annually, because the research team found that the proportion of patients who develop retinopathy-related sight loss was no different between the two screening intervals.

Proposed savings for the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, for which 3,537 of the patients it screens for retinopathy fell into the remit of this study, would be a reduction in costs from £1.83m a year to £1.36m. The study predicts savings of around 25 per cent based on standard assumptions of screening costs.

According to Diabetes UK, some 2.8m people in the UK have diabetes and 10 per cent of them are diagnosed with retinopathy.

The UK’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence introduced guidelines for annual screening, but admits that this frequency is arbitrary and has welcomed research to investigate appropriate intervals between screening appointments.

The study was led by Dr. Daniel Chalk, Associate Research Fellow in Applied Operational Research, Peninsula Collaboration for Health, Operational Research and Development (PenCHORD), PCMD. He said: “This is not the first study to investigate screening for diabetic retinopathy, but it is the first to focus on the group of type 2 diabetics who have not yet been diagnosed for the condition. Diabetic retinopathy typically develops at a very slow pace, and as a consequence we wanted to identify whether or not there was any merit in reducing the frequency of screening from annually to every two years.”

He added: “We found that there was no perceivable difference in the effectiveness of screening annually or every two years for this particular patient cohort, which would suggest that it would be safe and cost-effective to increase the screening interval to two years. In order to support this, an effective recall system and campaign to impress upon patients the continuing importance of such screening would be beneficial – a lengthening of the screening interval in no way undermines the validity of the screening process itself.”

So says Bronwen Courtenay-Stamp, partner and head of the Travel, Tourism and Insurance Team at Stones Solicitors LLP

The regulations specifically provide that a Flight-Plus arranger (defined in regulation 25) is liable to the consumer for the provision of the flight accommodation, living accommodation and self-drive car hire provided as part of a Flight-Plus. If prior to departure by the consumer, the Flight-Plus arranger becomes aware that any of these elements will not be provided, the Flight-Plus arranger must provide suitable alternatives at no extra cost to the consumer (regulation 26). If after departure the Flight-Plus arranger becomes aware that the flight will not be provided, the Flight-Plus arranger must provide the consumer at no extra cost suitable alternative transport back to the place of departure. In the case of living accommodation or self-drive car hire not being provided, the Flight-Plus arranger must provide the consumer at no extra cost with suitable alternative living accommodation or self-drive car hire, as appropriate (regulation 27). Where suitable alternative arrangements cannot be made, the Flight-Plus arranger must compensate the consumer (regulation 28). However, the Flight-Plus arranger is not liable unless the reason for the non-availability of the flight or living accommodation or self-drive car hire is due to the insolvency of any person concerned with its provision or the failure of the ATOL holder providing the flight accommodation (regulation 30).

That is when John Challis, best-known for playing the role of Boycie, will be visiting Waterstones in Drake Circus to sign his book ‘Being Boycie’. His book now includes a foreword by fellow ‘Only Fools’ star and lifelong friend, Sir David Jason OBE.

John played the role of Boycie in ‘Only Fools’ from 1981 to 2003. The spin-off series, ‘The Green Green Grass’, ran from 2005 to 2009.

The book signing will take place at Waterstones Drake Circus on Sunday 6^th May from midday to mid afternoon. More information is available by calling 0843 290 8551 or by logging on at www.drakecircus.com.

The day is aimed at GPs, specialist nurses and hospital doctors with an interest in allergy. It will cover a number of subjects including the epidemiology of allergy; history taking and allergy testing in general practice; paediatric allergy; urticaria and angioedema; allergic rhinitis and asthma; anaphylaxis; and case histories.

Cornwall Allergy Day has attracted high level speakers from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Derriford Hospital, the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London, Treliske Hospital and Plymouth University.

The cost for the day is £75 per person, and £50 for non-medics. The cost includes lunch and refreshments.

Professor Edward Kaminski, Consultant Immunologist from Derriford Hospital and who is leading the event, said: “Allergy is an often misunderstood condition. We have designed Cornwall Allergy Day to provide doctors and nurses who care for people with allergy with the information, contacts and support they need to ensure their patients receive appropriate and effective treatment. This is the first allergy event we have held in Cornwall and it follows a series of successful similar events we have held in Devon.”

Places can be booked by email cpd@pcmd.ac.uk or by calling 01752 437197.

Approximately one-third of the population will have an allergy at some point in their lives – the equivalent of over 175,000 people in Cornwall.

The Red Flag Alert shows a significant number of businesses in critical condition. Critical is classified by Red Flag as having County Court Judgments totalling £5,000 or more, and/or Winding-Up Petition-related actions.

Given the unprecedented longevity of the current economic downturn it is likely that more businesses have fallen into the ‘zombie’ state. More writs are being issued against such companies but in many instances banks are not reclaiming secured lending because of the risk of losing a significant amount of their debt. The result is more critical businesses kept ‘artificially’ alive, with growing numbers of writs against them but no one organisation willing to ‘pull the plug’.

Red Flag shows that sectors and businesses that rely on discretionary spend, such as bars, restaurants, even football clubs, are increasingly falling into the critical category because customers are learning the habit of saving and simply not spending. Uncertainty in the economy is key to this, with rising household costs, reduced Government subsidy in real terms and targeted increases in tax take. Only this week the AA reported that the average family is now paying more to fill their petrol tanks than they are on their weekly food shopping.

Traditional engines of the economy, such as construction, continue to languish in the doldrums while sectors that act as economic indicators remain bleak – retail, for example, has seen bad news from the mass end of the market (Game, Tesco) and at the premium end (Jaeger, Aquascutum).

This quarter’s Red Flag Alert also appears to be very much a tale of two counties. The number of businesses falling into the critical category in Devon has risen by 41 per cent year on year, while in Cornwall there is a fall of 39 per cent.

In both counties construction and support services are the categories with the most businesses facing significant or critical problems.

Ian Walker, Partner at Begbies Traynor in Exeter, commented: “There is little good news from the Red Flag Alert for the region this quarter. We continue to see the ‘zombie’ effect which is a worrying trend – it is certainly no basis for growth and is storing up problems for the future. Money is not moving around the system – consumers are saving rather than spending, banks are consolidating (or holding out) rather than investing.”

He added: “We are still at the bottom of the economic cycle, but that would suggest that at some point we will be back on the way up. Businesses that manage their finances and processes minutely now will be in a better position when the economy improves. As a business owner, now would be the time to seek the advice you will need to prepare your business for better times ahead.”

That is the conclusion of research by Katherine Ashbullby and Dr Mathew White from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, and the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth. Mathew White is presenting the findings today (19 April) to the British Psychological Society Annual Conference held at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London (18-20 April).

Katherine Ashbullby and her colleagues from the two institutions studied data from 2750 English respondents drawn from Natural England’s two-year study of people’s engagement with the natural environment. They looked at people who had visited urban parks, the countryside and the coast.

They found that all outdoor locations were associated with positive feelings (enjoyment, calmness, refreshment), but that visits to the coast were most beneficial and visits to urban parks least beneficial. This finding remained when the researchers took account of factors like people’s age, how far they had travelled, the presence of others and the activity they undertook.

Dr White, a lecturer in health and risk from the ECEHH, says: “There is a lot of work on the beneficial effects of visiting natural environments, but our findings suggest it is time to move beyond a simple urban vs rural debate and start looking at the effect that different natural environments have on people’s health and well-being.”

The new School aims to build closer relations between researcher and public health practitioners. It will place emphasis on what works practically, can be applied across the whole country and meets the needs of policy makers, practitioners and the public.

It will help the public health system to develop in the future by: narrowing the gap between those who supply public health and those who benefit from it; increasing the evidence base for effective public health practice; carrying out ‘applied translational research’ (where there is a direct link between research and its use in practice – so called ‘bench to beside’); taking into account public health needs and assessing activities that happen regionally which could have benefit nationally.

The NIHR School for Public Health Research was a commitment within the White Paper “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our Strategy for Public Health in England”.

The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry will contribute via its core areas of research, which include the design and evaluation of behaviour change interventions, innovative approaches to promoting healthy lifestyles, understanding the relationship between environment and health, and reducing morbidity and disability in later life. 

The PCMD lead for the NIHR School for Public Health Research will be Professor David Melzer. David is supported by Professor Charles Abraham as deputy PCMD lead. David and Charles represent PCMD on the new Research School Executive. David said: “We took part in a competition for academic institutions with a strong track record in applied research and evaluative practice in public health. We were assessed by an independent panel on the basis of the quality of our research, our critical mass of expertise and the relevance of our current work. I am delighted that the PCMD team has been successful and that we will be able to invest £1.6m over five years to improve public health research within PCMD. Congratulations to my colleagues for an excellent achievement . We look forward to contributing to the improvement and development of public health services in England.”

The NIHR will support the further development of work carried out by PCMD and the other academic institutions in the new School to the tune of £20m over a five-year period – £1.6m of that will come to the South West.

When this happens, and when they have not had the opportunity or forethought to prepare an Enduring Power of Attorney or Lasting Power of Attorney, the Court of Protection is called upon to appoint a deputy on their behalf.

A prospective deputy must submit a detailed application to the Court of Protection, which in due course will issue an order outlining the scope of the appointment. This is important, because the order will specify the limitations of what a deputy can or cannot do. Any activities outside the order, such as selling property or making gifts, will require permission from the Court.

There are two types of deputyship: the first, a Property and Affairs Deputy, allows the deputy to make decisions regarding property and financial affairs. The second, a Personal Welfare Deputy, allows the deputy to make decisions about health and welfare, including treatment options.

While the Property and Affairs deputyship is relatively straightforward, there are provisos with regard to Personal Welfare. For example, a deputy cannot refuse consent for life sustaining treatment on behalf of another and it is very unusual for the Court to appoint Personal Welfare deputies on an ongoing basis – it prefers applications to be made as and when required.

While it is usual for a spouse or close relative to be appointed as a deputy, the basic criteria calls for applicants to be over 18 years of age. Applicants must make declarations regarding issues such as criminal convictions and bankruptcy and the Court can reject any application it deems unsuitable.

Where there is no suitable applicant, or where an estate is complex, of high value or involve difficult family relationships, a professional deputy can be appointed and this is usually a solicitor.

More information is available by calling the Stones Private Client Team on 01392 666777 in Exeter or 01837 650200 in Okehampton. Requests for information can also be sent to privateclient@stones-solicitors.co.uk.

Professor Kay has come fourth in the league table, which is the annual indicator of ‘movers and shakers’ in dentistry. She last appeared in the Top 50 in 2009 when she was listed as 43^rd. The previous highest ranking achieved by a woman was 15^th in last year’s listings.

Liz Kay qualified in 1982 from the University of Edinburgh. She acquired a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of Glasgow in 1984 and remained there to study for a PhD, which she completed in 1991.   She then became Senior Lecturer at the University of Dundee.  She subsequently undertook specialist training in Dental Public Health and for the last 12 years has been a Consultant in the speciality. 

In May 2006 she was appointed as the Inaugural Dean of the Peninsula Dental School, having previously been Professor of Dental Health Services Research at the University of Manchester. 

She is also a past Scientific Adviser to the British Dental Association and is currently the Chair of Trustees for the Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust Fund.

She has over 100 scientific papers and journal articles, and is principal author of four text books and co author of one other, along with contributing several chapters to academic text books. Her research interests lie in decision analysis and health service research.

Speaking of her ranking in the Dentistry Top 50, Professor Kay said: “I was thoroughly amazed when I was told about this. It is good news not just for me, but also for the Peninsula Dental School – I hope that my ranking is as much about the achievements we have made in dental education and research as it is about me personally.”