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Blooming success for day centre users
PEOPLE who
attend a day centre in Liverpool are smelling of roses after
celebrating a blooming success at the 2008 RHS Tatton Flower Show.
The 12 budding Alan Titchmarsh’s who attend Alderwood Day Centre in
Speke have won an award in the 'Silver Grenfell' category from
judges for their work creating a collage flower bed. They have
been attending horticulture lessons one day per week at St Helens
College as part of a project run in conjunction with Vocational
Support Services which supports adults with learning difficulties,
and an organisation called Fusion. They were entered into the
Floral Design Studio section of the festival and were awarded the
prize after their flower bed was inspected by the judging team.
The design celebrates the partnership between the college and the
day centre and symbolises inclusion and equality with a wheelchair
design made out of flowers.
Councillor Ron Gould, executive member for health care, attended the
show to congratulate them on their achievement. He said:-
“To win a prize at one of the country’s most prestigious flower
shows is absolutely incredible and something most professional
gardeners never achieve. These are just the type of activities
we are striving to offer within our day centres – providing a
practical and fun learning experience which enables the people who
attend them to achieve their full potential. The experience of
taking part in this project and winning a top prize is something
they will never forget.”
“How
do I get to…?”
IT'S one of
the most popular questions asked to Toll Officers at the Mersey
Tunnels. However directing visiting drivers can take time and
hold up traffic at tollbooths. Now the Tunnel tolls officers
have come up with a solution – a suite of handy guides to direct
customers to a host of popular locations throughout Merseyside.
Neil Scales, Chief Executive and Director General of Merseytravel
said:- “The Mersey Tunnels are major gateways to Liverpool and
Wirral and the service customers receive plays a crucial part in
their initial perceptions of the region. In many cases tolls
staff are the first point of contact for visitors, so, I’m really
pleased that they have come up with their own simple but effective
answer to these very popular questions; the ones they hear every
day.”
The “How do I get to…?” guides give directions to key venues
on both sides of the River Mersey and were the brainchild of Barry
Caldow, Deputy Tolls Manager.
Barry said:- “Our contact with customers is very brief; mostly
a matter of seconds and often it is for change. However, with the
extra visitors to the region we are also getting more and more
requests for directions to venues and attractions on both sides of
the River such as the Outlet Village, Alder Hey Hospital, the
Passport Office and, more recently Liverpool One, the Albert Dock
and ACC Liverpool.
Our toll officers try to help as much as possible without holding up
traffic, but that can sometimes prove difficult. So we decided to
make things easier by producing these new guides. Our toll
officers are often the first people visitors speak to when they come
to the region, so they have an important customer service role,
providing information and advice. We are seeing this more than ever
during Capital of Culture year.”
The leaflets are available for staff in all of the tollbooths and
provide easy to follow, illustrative directions supported by simple,
effective maps. The idea came about following a new suggestion
scheme launched internally for Merseytravel staff.
Liverpool’s small
businesses to benefit from online delivery service
SENDING
parcels just got easier for Liverpool’s small businesses thanks to
the launch of a new website,
interlinkdirect.co.uk.
This parcel service offers the convenience of shipping online and
paying by credit card with the reassurance of backing by one of the
most trusted delivery networks Interlink Express, who built their
reputation on providing a premium service to small and medium sized
companies and have their local depot in Boundary Street, Liverpool,
Merseyside.
Users of the new
website will also gain delivery service advantages not available
from other couriers such as text messages automatically sent to the
recipient advising the delivery date. The recipient can reply to the
text to alter the delivery date if required. This unique feature
helps ensure right first time deliveries and avoids the 'sorry we
missed you' cards.
Parcels booked via the website can be collected by an Interlink
Express driver or dropped off at a local depot. With 103 depots
nationwide Interlink Express is one of the most extensive delivery
service networks in the UK.
The website also enables users to send
across the European Union and to key destinations worldwide.
“We’ve developed this online service specifically to meet the
needs of the smaller business. No-one else offers this level of
service and choice.
The new
website is an easy-to-use and convenient way to ship parcels in the
UK and abroad and the power of the Interlink Express network ensures
the reliable collection and delivery of our customer’s parcels.”
says Keith Dickinson, who runs the local Interlink Express depot in
Boundary Street. |
£11
MILLION INVESTMENT IN MUSEUM OF LIVERPOOL
THE Museum of
Liverpool has been awarded a confirmed grant of £11 million by the
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). National Museums Liverpool will
use this grant towards the fit out of the museum, which is currently
under construction at Liverpool’s Pier Head.
Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said:-
“The Museum of Liverpool will provide a wonderful new
opportunity for people to learn more about the city and its role in
British and world history. In this year when Liverpool is European
Capital of Culture, we’re delighted to be able to confirm our
support for this ambitious project which will bring the story of the
city to life.”
David Fleming, Director of National Museums Liverpool, said:-“The
Heritage Lottery Fund's endorsement signifies the outstanding
importance of this new national museum, which is the great legacy of
Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. I am grateful to
everyone who has worked in support of the museum so far. The project
is like the Grand National and having cleared the final major
hurdle, we're now on the home straight.”
The Museum of Liverpool is a brand new national museum located on
Liverpool’s world famous waterfront. Opening in 2010/11 it will be a
fantastic family visitor attraction and an exceptional learning and
community resource telling the story of Liverpool’s unique
development. The museum will provide 8,000 square metres of
public space across three floors, and visitors will have access to
over 6,000 objects that are currently in store, many of which have
never been on public display before. The museum will focus on
4 main themes: Port City, Creative City, People’s City and Global
City.
In Port City visitors can explore how Liverpool transformed itself
from a small tidal inlet to one of the world’s great ports.
Liverpool led the world in developing the early canals, the first
timetabled passenger railway, new dock technologies and the
Liverpool Overhead Railway – the world’s first elevated electrified
railway.
Visitors can celebrate the creative personality of Liverpool in
Creative City, and uncover why the city has produced such an amazing
roll call of writers, poets, performers, musicians, visual artists,
comedians and sports people.
People’s City is about the experience of living in the city: what it
means to be Liverpudlian, how people have left their mark on
Liverpool and the impact and issues caused by dramatic social change
over the last 200 years.
19th century Liverpool sat at the heart of a global business
network, the commercial and mercantile equal of London or New York,
and the second most important city in the British Empire. Global
City explores the extent of Liverpool’s global links and uncovers
the stories of the workers, innovators, entrepreneurs and reformers
behind the city’s international connections.
The museum also features a tailor-made gallery for children under 6
called Little Liverpool: a fantasy dreamscape where our youngest
visitors can relax, play and explore. A 38 metre timeline packed
with objects forms the backbone of our History Detectives gallery,
where an interactive map of Merseyside explores how places change,
and visitors can discover the key events that shaped Liverpool’s
history.
These innovative galleries are based within the Museum of
Liverpool’s specifically commissioned spaces. The museum is based on
an x-shaped design and is clad in stone. Beneath the surface is a
cutting-edge, complex steel frame which contains 2,100 tonnes of
structural steel. The steel structure allows the museum’s
largest exhibition spaces, which are 40 metres long by 28 metres
wide, to be column free, ensuring that the galleries and public
spaces are maximised.
All stages of the museum project, from design to construction and
fit-out, use cutting edge developments in materials and processes,
and are on a large scale. Some construction facts include:
20,000 cubic metres of soil – equivalent to 8 Olympic swimming pools
– has been excavated from the site
The museum’s frame is constructed with 2,100 tonnes of steel –
equivalent to 270 Double Decker buses
5,700 square metres of natural Jura stone is being used to clad the
museum, which if laid out flat would cover a football pitch
1,500 square metres of glazing will be used, mainly in 2 large
picture windows, 1 at each end of the building. The windows are 8 m
high by 28 m wide, and offer striking views of the Pier Head and the
River Mersey
A spectacular atrium, containing an elliptical staircase, will be
lit by natural light from a skylight in the centre of the building
The total surface area of the museum’s floor space is 10,000 square
metres and the surface area of the roof is 3,700 square metres
7,500 cubic metres of concrete and 20 tonnes of bolts have been used
to build the museum
The building footprint occupies an area 110 m long by 60 m wide and
at its tallest point it is 26 m high. That makes it longer than the
pitches at either Anfield or Goodison Park, more than twice as wide
as the Titanic, and as tall as five Liver Building Liver birds
placed end to end
The museum is striving for strong environmental credentials. It will
feature a rainwater harvesting system and will be powered by an
energy centre with a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant. The
total cost of the project, from building to fit out, is around £70
million.
As a major boost to the Liverpool economy, it is estimated the
Museum of Liverpool will attract more than 750,000 visitors per
year, providing at least 500 construction jobs and 73 direct
permanent jobs.
A new display about the museum has now opened at Piermaster’s House,
Albert Dock. It features a model of the museum and the developments
that surround it, and more information about the museum’s galleries
and the objects and stories they will feature. The display is
open daily from 10am to 5pm. |
