New film Fresh Hope premiered for Liverpool, Southport and Wigan Hope Street residents

WHEN was the last time you were asked to share your hopes by someone who really cared? This week residents of Hope Streets in Liverpool, Prescott, Southport, Newton -le-Willow and Wigan received a personal invitation to the on-line premier of a new film Fresh Hope produced by a film company who have made films for Audi, Vodafone, O2, and Channel 4. Watering Can Media have been commissioned by Church Army, whose Kidz Klub project operates in Page Moss Liverpool, to produce a film focused on a character making a journey that contains a promise of fresh hope.

This is all part of a new website based project www.hopeinfo.co.uk created by Church Army and the Christian Enquiry Agency as a focus for a year long conversation with the public about what it means to live hopefully. In what is believe to be the first project of this kind, the project also has a presence on You Tube and Facebook websites and encourages people to express their hopes for the coming year by text, email or post. Hope Street residents have been asked to send in words, poetry, art work or even short movies describing their hopes and dreams. Across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland over 3,000 residents of other Hope Streets will receive the same letter on behalf of the hopeinfo.co.uk team.

The idea has been welcomed by the Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, whose own Cathedral is located on Hope Street. The Bishop comments;- "The Christian Gospel is all about Hope, and here in Liverpool with our two cathedrals located at either end of Hope Street we want to be a beacon for that hope. I am delighted that over 3,000 residents of Hope Streets right across the UK will be asked about their hopes for the coming year by this initiative. Church Army and the Christian Enquiry Agency have developed an imaginative project and I wish www.hopeinfo.co.uk  every success in generating a year-long conversation about what it means to live hopefully."

Visitors to the site ,which is launched to coincide with the beginning of Advent, will also have the opportunity to test their “hopefulness score” and sign up for “Secrets of Hope” – a weekly email designed to help people be more optimistic about the future. Slam poet Jude Simpson has produced a special performance poem- 'Broken Open' which is also premiered on the site.

The site was the idea of Gareth Squire Director of the Christian Enquiry Agency who says:- “We want hopeinfo.co.uk to be a central place of inspiration and information about the faith that drives Christians to serve their communities - but equally importantly, we want it to be a place where people of all faiths and none can express their hopes and dreams and engage in a conversation about the true nature of hope.”

David Coleman of Church Army who is a partner in the project and part of the creative team behind the film and website adds;- “Everyone hopes for something and this projects is designed to start where people are and encourage as many people as possible to share their hopes - even those who don't live on Hope Street.”

To view the film Fresh Hope see www.hopeinfo.co.uk.

UNISON WINS BREAKTHROUGH STRIKE DEDUCTIONS TEST CASE

EMPLOYERS must include annual leave and bank holidays when calculating how much pay to deduct for strike action, the High Court ruled. UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union, brought the test case, Cooper v Isle of Wight College, following strike action to protect members’ pension rights in March last year.

The decision means that the Isle of Wight College should have deducted only 1/260th of the annual salary of a striker for the 1-day strike not 1/228th. The ruling has implications for all employers making deductions from employees’ wages for taking strike action.  UNISON has consistently argued that the correct method of deducting salaries during strike action is to deduct the weekend and other non-working days (but not annual leave or bank holidays) resulting in a formula of 1/260th of the annual salary for a day’s strike.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:- “The amount of money may seem small but the principle of the case is much bigger. The strike action last year was to defend pension rights and it involved 30,000 members in the further education sector. On the advice of the Association of Colleges, many colleges used an unfair formula and took more money than they were entitled.  The ruling makes it clear that employers will fall foul of the law if they fail to include annual leave and bank holidays in their calculations. There will be an order in due course from the court instructing the Isle of Wight College to repay the difference. “

The case was brought by UNISON because of a long standing practice in the further education sector of calculating the amount to be deducted on the basis of the value of the day’s salary after excluding employees’ holiday and annual leave days. This formula was chosen by many colleges on the advise of the Association of Colleges (AoC) and resulted in around 1/228th of the annual salary being deducted for a single day’s strike. One of the colleges that adopted the AoC advice was the Isle of Wight College, who deducted 1/228th of our members’ salaries for the one-day strike.

The High Court agreed with UNISON’s lawyers and found that the correct formula for deductions was 1/260th of the annual salary and that the defendant college was not entitled to deduct the sums that it had.

Kids take trip to Winter Wonderland

THE FESTIVE season is here – and magical Christmas tales are about to be brought to life for hundreds of Liverpool children.  Local theatre company Fuse has teamed up with the city council to launch ‘Winter Tales’, a series of special storytelling theatre performances which are bringing the wonder of Christmas to young people throughout the city.  The theatrical adaptations of well-loved stories aim to take children on a journey through snowy, wintry places, to meet loveable and comical characters, from Cuddly Dudley the penguin, to Silly Santa and the Jolly Christmas Postman.

Blind and partially sighted children will be treated to the magic of Christmas tomorrow (Wednesday 5 December), as Winter Tales arrives at St Vincent’s School for the Blind, L12.

The city council’s executive member for children’s services, Councillor Paul Clein, said:- “Winter Tales is a fantastic project which aims to introduce hundreds of families from all over Liverpool to the joys of reading and storytelling this Christmas.”

Fuse has been awarded a grant from Merseyside Arts and Cultural Fund towards ‘Winter Tales’, together with funding from Bookstart. Performed by actors from the theatre company, the stories will be performed in libraries, children’s centres and schools across Liverpool. 

For more information about performance dates, venues and times, please contact Irene Mandelkow on 0151 233 5864.