Baroness Finlay to deliver annual lecture

The second annual Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs lecture will be delivered by Professor Baroness Ilora Finlay of Llandaff on Wednesday 23rd June at 6.30pm at Conference Room C&D, Tŷ Hywel, Cardiff Bay. A Welsh buffet will be provided on arrival at 5.30pm at Oriel y Senedd, Cardiff Bay.

The lecture, How we choose to live and die lives on…, hosted by Gareth Jones OBE, AM, and chaired by Angharad Mair, the popular television personality, will discuss the controversial topic of assisted suicide.

Baroness Finlay is Patron of the Council’s groundbreaking project The Living Room Cardiff/Yr Ystafell Fyw Caerdydd. The Baroness has also written the foreword to Wynford Ellis Owen’s newly published book No Room to Live - a self help book and autobiography which follows Ellis Owen’s personal battle with alcoholism.

Baroness Finlay is a Professor of Palliative Medicine and has worked with Marie Curie Cancer Care since 1987. She was Vice Dean in the School of Medicine, Cardiff University, between August 2000 and October 2005 and is the immediate past-President at the Royal Society of Medicine. She was a member of the Expert Advisory Committee on Cancers to the Chief Medical Officers of England and Wales, producing the Calman Hine Report in 1995. She currently chairs the implementation board for the palliative care strategy in Wales. She has been actively involved in promoting ‘medical humanities’ integrating the arts into health care thinking.

Wynford Ellis Owen, Chief Executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, said, “We are delighted that Baroness Finlay has accepted our invitation to come and deliver our second annual lecture. It’s a great opportunity to debate this important issue and I hope many people will come to hear what she has to say.

“The Baroness is Patron of our Living Room Cardiff project, which we hope to open in 2011. It is a free, bilingual day-care rehabilitation centre in the capital which aims to break the cycle of addiction and in time, we hope to extend the service to all major towns throughout Wales.

“The Living Room concept will revolutionize the treatment of alcohol and drug dependence and other addictive behaviours in Wales. The emphasis will be on recovery rather than simple addiction management. Having the experience, skills and enthusiasm of Baroness Finlay is a tremendous coup for the Living Room and I look forward to working with her over the months to come to make the centre a reality.”

ENDS

For further information please contact Rhodri Ellis Owen at Cambrensis Communications on 029 2025 7075 or rhodri@cambrensis.uk.com or go to www.welshcouncil.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

No Room to Live is available to purchase directly from the Council, via their website www.welshcouncil.org.uk, and from www.gwales.com.