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tourism title for Tunnel Tours...
TOURS
delving into the inner workings of the Mersey Tunnels have secured a
major tourism award. Guides leading the tours were presented
with the prized Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service
accreditation (VAQAS), a customer-focused scheme set up by Visit
Britain.
The tours were inspected and praised for their ‘Wow factor”.
Inspectors found the tour “fascinating and very well led”.
In December 2007, inspectors praised the tours ‘wow’
moments, including the sheer size, power and scale of the fans and
ventilation system and Central Avenue, a route under the road deck
originally planned for trams.
The tour guides were praised as “very good hosts”, who made visitors feel at home, with some
“great ghostly anecdote material!”
Merseytravel owns and operates the Mersey Tunnels and inspectors
congratulated the organisation. Only last year the number of
tours had to be doubled to cope with public demand.
Neil Scales, Chief Executive and Director General for Merseytravel,
said:- “What started off as a simple idea has really captured
the public imagination and the tours are proving to be a fantastic
success. We’re currently heavily booked until June, which goes to
show how popular they have become. To receive VAQAS for our
tours, which is an award from a customer perspective, is a real
achievement and the team should be very proud. It’s even more
pleasing because we have received this during our year as European
Capital of Culture.
It’s great to receive feedback in this way and we’ll keep looking
for ways to improve the tours. The tunnels were a world-class
feat of engineering when they were built and they have stood the
test of time. Many people coming on the tours are astounded by the
sheer scale and complexity of the tunnels.”
The tours include a visit to the newly constructed escape refuges
deep under the Mersey and unique access to the Engineering Control
Room, Museum and old tunnel road deck.
Visitors also see one of the
six giant ventilation stations in action. The underground
adventure lasts between 2 and 2 and a half hours and they are now
held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and on Saturday
mornings.
To book a place telephone (Monday to Friday, between office hours)
0151 236 8602 and then dial extension number 204 or 214.
A
small fee of £3 per person is charged to ensure the costs of the
tours are self-funding.
Casual clothing and comfortable shoes
must be worn and the minimum age for visitors is ten years old.
Due
to the number of stairs the tour is unsuitable for people with
breathing or walking difficulties.
The Tunnel Tours will have the accreditation reviewed annually. |
NORTH WEST FOOTBALL AWARDS WINNER OF BEST EVENT 2008
THE Northwest
Football Awards, a joint venture between Out There Events and How Do
Publishing, was last night named winner of Best Event in this year’s
national SWOT Marketing Awards. Out There Events and How Do,
recognising the gap in the football market, established a winning
formula creating and managing a large high profile event in a bid to
recognise the region’s footballing success on and off the pitch.
The expert panel of SWOT judges recognised the absolute success of
the event in its inaugural year, highlighting achievements such as
attracting high profile football legends, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir
Alex Ferguson and securing sponsors such as Brabners Chaffe Street,
Barclays, KPMG and The Football Foundation, awarding it SWOT
Marketing Awards 2008 Best Event Winner.
Gordon Taylor, CEO of the Professional Footballers Association, a
judge at the Northwest Football Awards 2007 said:- “It was a
truly memorable night. It was great to see the North West’s
footballing community come out in force to celebrate the region’s
success both on the pitch and behind the scenes, as well as raising
a huge amount of money for a fantastic local charity.”
CEO and Founder of Out There Events, Marcie Incarico, commented:-
“We are delighted that the Northwest Football Awards have been
recognised in this way. We were up against other well established
events, so to be recognised for this event in its 1st year is
amazing. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the
team involved, all concerned really appreciate this accolade. ”
The North West Football Awards 2008 will be held on the 17 November
2008 at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.
Help wanted over domain
registration letters
BUSINESSES are being warned this week
about letters are being sent out from the USA by a company known as
"Domain
Registry of America", from Buffalo who set up their website offering
hostage deals in 2006 and have since been contacting
businesses with letters saying "Domain Name Expiration Notice" and
"As a courtesy to domain holders, we are sending you
this notification of the domain name registrations that are due to
expire in the next few months." They also state that
"This is not a bill, it is rather an easy means of payment, should
you decide to switch your domain name registration to
the Domain Registry of America." The group whose registered website
is www.droa.com, goes by the name of "Domain
Registry Group". The group is based at 2316 Delaware Avenue, Suite
266, Buffalo, USA. This group sends out this
letters to unsuspecting businesses, many of them thinking that it is
from their own provider and often pay. Technicley
it is a gray area with these letters, but internet service providers
and ISP's in the UK strongly recomend that if you
receive ONE of these letters, that you file it under 'b'
for 'bin'.
The letters are often posted as coming from Jamaica,
NY via the US Postal Service, under the permit number 9014. The
letters contain a none postage paid reply letter that is
addressed to Domain Registry of America, 56 Gloucester Rd. Suite
526, London, England, SW7 4Ub. If you have had any
dealings with this business, please let us know what your experiance
has been, together with a bit of information as to
the URL you have registered with them and how long you have been
with them etc.
We are very interested and any information you have, especially if
they are good ones. Email via our newsroom email address:-
news24@southportreporter.com.
Web links:-
Domain Registry of America AlLynne Group
managingip.com
Synergy UK Corporation
United Forums Post. |
