More Brits will have a little gamble this weekend than at any other time of the year, when the 2018 Grand National is run at Liverpool’s Aintree Racecourse.
In betting terms, it is the single biggest sporting event in the UK calendar, with more than £150 million staked on the race each year at betting shops and online. And that figure doesn’t include the countless informal ‘sweepstakes’ organised in workplace, pubs and social clubs throughout the UK.
Even people who never normally bet might have a little flutter on the historic Grand National, arguably the world’s best-known horse race. First run in 1839, it will see a maximum of 40 horses and jockeys tackle the four-and-a-half-mile steeplechase course around Aintree. Those runners and riders who make it to the finishing line will have cleared 30 fences in two laps of the course, with famous names including Becher’s Brook, Canal Turn, Valentine’s Brook and The Chair.
If one of the favourites wins to claim the coveted silver trophy and £561,300 prize, the bookies will be crying into their beer, but the famous race’s length, number of fences and sheer unpredictability often leads to plucky outsiders beating the odds to romp home in first place.
Up to 12 million viewers are expected to watch Grant National coverage on TV tomorrow (Saturday April 14th), with the big race due to start at 5-15pm. Most will be cheering on whichever horse is carrying their hopes and chances of a successful wager, but for many it will end in disappointment if their horse falls or falters at one of the big fences.
If you’re having a gamble on the Grand National, good luck and fingers crossed that your horse won’t fall. But away from the racecourse, one place where you should never gamble on not having a fall is the stairs in your own home. As we get older and less sprightly, the stairs can become a real challenge, especially if you have an underlying medical condition.
Afflictions which directly affect our movement, such as arthritis or deteriorating muscle strength, can make it difficult and painful to use the stairs. Other conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or low blood pressure, can cause you to feel breathless, dizzy or light-headed through the physical exertion of climbing the stairs.
In both cases, the danger is that you might suffer a fall. Children fall all the time and generally ‘bounce’ back up, but a fall in older age can have serious and life-changing consequences. Wherever a fall happens it can be serious, but a fall on the stairs could be catastrophic. Thankfully you can guard against it by investing in an Acorn Stairlift to ensure your safety on the stairs. It enables you to glide smoothly between the floors in your home as often as you like, in safety and comfort.
Acorn’s award-winning and British-built stairlifts can be installed on virtually any type of staircase, straight or curved, and our installation response times are the best in the business. In most cases we can even fit your stairlift the very next day if urgency is of paramount concern.
Because we deal direct with our customers and manufacture more than 70,000 stairlifts per year, we believe Acorn Stairlifts offer the best all-round value for money on the market. We also provide a one-stop-shop service for home stairlifts; we don’t just sell them, we manufacture, install and service them, with a responsive customer helpline open 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year.
Finding out how an Acorn Stairlift can transform your life and guard against accidents on the stairs won’t cost you a penny. Call us free today on 0800 016 9760 to speak to one of our stairlift advisors or book your free no-obligation home survey. Your local Acorn surveyor will call at a time which suits you, to assess your needs and thoroughly measure your staircase. The surveyor will also provide a comprehensive quote for your bespoke Acorn Stairlift, with no hidden extras. We won’t pressure you for a sale and your quote remains valid for a whole year, giving you plenty of time to decide.
So, by all means have a little gamble on tomorrow’s Grand National if the fancy takes you, and good luck if you do, but please don’t gamble on your own safety on the stairs. Let Acorn Stairlifts be your sure-fire winner.