|
FESTIVE FUN AT LIGHTS
SWITCH - ON
WITH just a few weeks to go before Southport's big Christmas lights switch-on final preparations are being made for the popular parade and stage entertainment.
This year will see a new route for the 'illuminated' parade and Southport's Pop Rivals star Aimee Kearsley, together with other members of her band 'Clea', will be performing the celebrity lights switch-on. Coloured lights will also return to the trees along Lord Street for the first time in 30 years.
Southport's festive lights switch-on takes place on November 23 and tourism officers are expecting bumper crowds following an extensive marketing campaign throughout the North West. Last year the town centre was brought to a standstill as more than 25,000 people lined the streets to enjoy the festivities.
The colourful parade will begin at 4:15 pm and will be led by Santa and his real reindeer, straight from Britain's only reindeer herd in the Cairngorm Mountains.
The parade will also include a series of decorated floats, many equipped with digital sound and accompanied by hundreds of local people in costume.
Lord Fearn, Sefton's Cabinet Member for Leisure and Tourism, said:- "This year's lights switch-on will be incredible and will be a great early evening's entertainment for all members of the family. The parade will once again be spectacular and the line-up of entertainment, including a performance from Clea, will be a real treat for everyone."
LIVERPOOL SCHOOLS WIN £1,000 AWARDS
NORWICH UNION awarded three schools in Liverpool £1,000 each to spend on engaging more children in sporting activity as one of the 48 lucky runners-up in the Norwich Union School and Community Sports Awards competition.
The awards were launched in June as a result of the 'Listening to Tomorrow's Athletes' report which showed that children are demanding more say in the sports they play. Norwich Union therefore went back to the children themselves to ask them how they would develop their own schemes for increasing participation in sport in their communities, to help fight the problems of child obesity.
David Czerwinski, head of sponsorship for Norwich Union:-
"We are supporting the best 50 plans and the children and their schools will have to control how the money is spent, nurturing their projects and taking responsibility for the success of their own schemes.
We all know that children need to participate in more sporting activities, and through our new 'Do the Right Thing' campaign, we are encouraging and enabling children to pursue a more active and healthy lifestyle. These awards will allow the schools to get more children and hopefully more of the local community participating in
sport".
|
- CLIPPER SIGNS £427,000 RIGHTS DEAL WITH DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
CLIPPER VENTURES PLC the AIM listed ocean racing company announced that the port city of Durban will represent South Africa in the Clipper 2005 Round the World Yacht Race, joining the UK city of Liverpool and the State of Western Australia in a highly competitive international line-up.
In a £427,000 ($5m Rand) deal, the city of Durban will provide a cash rights fee and event hosting infrastructure and services during a high profile race stopover in November 2005. The Clipper fleet's stay in Durban Bay will be hosted by its main marina, served by the Point Yacht Club and Royal Natal Yacht Club.
Clipper Venture's Chairman, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, said:- "Durban's expedient location and excellent yachting facilities make it a natural stopover. With the return of South Africa to the international yachting fold, more sailors than ever are experiencing first hand this country's many attractions.
The rugged east coast of South Africa is one of the most notorious coastlines in the world; powerful winds and huge seas are more the norm than the exception. With large Southern Ocean rollers meeting the strong flowing Agulhas current, sailing conditions can be very lively on the approach to South Africa and will test the Clipper crews to their limits.
In addition to a new fleet of Dubois 68 yachts, a new ground breaking route is planned for Clipper 2005. This challenging route will start from Liverpool (UK) in September 2005 with a short, warm-up sprint to a Western European port, before taking the crews on their first big ocean race across the Equator to Brazil.
Following a crew change, the fleet will then set off across the South Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope for a ten-day Durban stopover in the southern summer. The yachts then dive south to the Roaring Forties for a Southern Ocean sleigh ride to the Western Australia port of Fremantle and an Antipodean Christmas.
The Islands of Indonesia beckon next as the crews race north towards China where additional crews will join in February for another high wind, high speed blast across the top of the North Pacific.
The final crew change will then take place for the crews who will be joining to race the yachts up the East Coast of the United States of America and back across the Atlantic for the homecoming in the summer of 2006."
Email
us your news today!
|
