Cammell Laird preferred bidder for Western Ferries contract

IT might be good news again for local shipbuilding on Merseyside after a historic shipyard was named preferred bidder for the construction of 2 ferries. The Birkenhead yard was founded by William Laird in 1824, but the strong tradition of shipbuilding looked as if it was lost for ever. It's closer in 1993 followed the completion of the last full vessel to be built at the yard. That vessel was the Royal Navy submarine HMS Unicorn and She was launched in to the river Mersey that same year. After its closure as a builders, the yard was then taken over by a firm called Coastline Group who used the yard as a ship refit and repair facility. That was also threatened after a contract to refit Italian cruise ship Costa Classica was cancelled in 1993, plunging Coastline Group into receivership. Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders took over the yard in 2005. Since they took over Cammell Laird picked up several contracts to refit and overhaul ships on the back of the yards historic name and reputation. It looked like the yard would remain a ship refit and repair facility doing this type of work, but this is very good news for the new owners and the area. But the offer to build these new vessels was as Western Ferries' Managing Director, Gordon Ross said to the press:- "the most commercially competitive." The bid also offered the ferry firm the "earliest delivery date of mid 2013." The yard is currently working on building the flight deck of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, but work on the vessels could begin in June 2012. Western Ferries  will be using these 2 new boats, once completed, for their Gourock to Dunoon route and will be given yard hull numbers 1387 and 1388.

Halton Tourism Award for Catering Manager, Lynn

THE Catering Manager and Conference Coordinator Lynn Steadman, from Catalyst is celebrating after winning the Tourism Support Award at the annual Halton Business and Tourism Awards.  In his nomination Stephen Youd-Thomas, Director of Catalyst said:- "For 20 years, Lynn has been a familiar, friendly face to visitors, overseeing all the catering from the cafe to conferences. Her flexible service is tailored to customer needs, resulting in increased booking and even home delivery requests from local residents!"  The judge commented that in all his years of judging he had never encountered such a tight contest, with 3 truly excellent candidates. He felt that Lynn put a tremendous amount of her personality into her role and was an inspiring example to everyone.  You can find out more about Catalyst by visiting the website:- catalyst.org.uk.