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Preston
youngsters join forces for musical fundraiser
2 City Centre schools will
join the award-winning UCLan Chamber Choir for a singing
spectacular. Local youngsters will be hitting the high notes
and giving music fans a real treat when they join forces with the
University of Central Lancashire's (UCLan) award-winning Chamber
Choir.
Students from a City based primary and secondary school will be
joined by a Fylde coast college to harmonise together with the 28
members of the UCLan Chamber Choir for the popular charity
fundraiser.
The Chamber Choir members are all undergraduates on the BA (Hons)
Music Theatre degree and each year, to provide a focal point for
choral singing, the Choir invites local schools and colleges to join
them in concert.
For 2014 the special guest choirs are:-
► Queen's Drive Primary School from Fulwood
► All Hallows Catholic High School from Penwortham
► Lytham St Anne's Technology and Performing Arts College
The concert takes place in UCLan's Darwin Lecture Theatre on
Wednesday, 5 March 2014, at 7.30pm.
During the past few years the Choir has won both the Good
Housekeeping Choir of the Year prize and the adult category of the
BBC Choir of the Year. The Choir, who has also performed on BBC's
Songs of Praise, has a wide and varied repertoire that includes
music from the Renaissance to the present day, as well as a range of
styles from classical to swing.
Mark Goggins, Choir Director and Music Theatre Course Leader, said:-
"The University Chamber Choir concert has become an annual
not-to-miss event within the City.
The exuberant members are very committed and enthusiastic to
showcase their vocal talents to a packed audience and they can't
wait to take to the stage alongside the three local choirs."
As well as raising funds for choir robes, the concert also supports
the University's Harris Bursary Fund which helps disadvantaged
students.
Tickets have historically sold out quickly so early booking is
strongly recommended. Refreshments and raffle tickets will be
available on arrival and during the interval. Parking is free on the
University's car parks for the duration of the concert. Tickets can
be purchased over the telephone by credit or debit card priced £9
for adults and £6 for students and children. Please call Tania
during office hours on 01772 894106.
Service Gains
Dyslexia Friendly Award
LIVERPOOL's Youth Offending
Service has achieved unique recognition for the work it does on
dyslexia. It is the only Youth Offending Service in the UK to
have been accredited with the British Dyslexia Quality Mark and is
seen as a Beacon Service for its dyslexia friendly provision.
The service first achieved the status 4 years ago and had to
demonstrate further improvements in its provision in order to retain
the accreditation. All staff in the service receive training
and mentors have been appointed to ensure that standards are
maintained and, where possible, improved. The prestigious
quality mark award is issued only to those organisations who meet
rigorous criteria set by the British Dyslexia Association.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson said:- "This is an area where
Liverpool is leading the way and setting an example to the rest of
the country. It is important that in a service such as this we are
able to advise and support those young people with dyslexia and
clearly we are doing this to a very high level. I congratulate the
staff in achieving this status."
"This is a recognition of the hard work of the staff in this
service in providing a dyslexia friendly provision.
A number of studies have shown that there is a high level of
dyslexia and literacy difficulties among offenders so it is vitally
important that our Youth Offending Service takes account of that and
is dyslexia friendly through all its provision. Gaining the quality
mark shows that this provision is a priority for us and it has been
developed to a very high standard. In fact the British Dyslexia
Association have described it as an inspiration to other Youth
Offending services. We now want to ensure that we continue with this
high level of service and share our experiences with other Youth
Offending teams." said
Councillor Peter Brennan, Mayoral Lead on Community Safety. |
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Northern Rail
Reveals Huyton is Fare Dodging Hot Spot
NORTHERN Rail has launched
a campaign to crack down on fare dodgers across Merseyside. In an
attempt to reduce the number of people receiving fines for not
buying a ticket, Northern has launched 2 online videos and a series
of station and train posters showing 2 scenarios where someone takes
something for free.
Northern has revealed that in Merseyside, the most common journey
where people are caught travelling without a ticket was from Huyton
to Liverpool Lime Street.
Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Northern, explains:- "We know
from talking to our customers they have a real problem when they see
others not paying for their journey. We don't want to see passengers
get into trouble and want to make sure they understand the
implications of taking a free ride. The videos show two situations
that we know people wouldn't do, and show that not paying for a
train ticket is the same, so why do it?
We hear all sorts of excuses from passengers as to why they don't
have a ticket; they don't have any money or a conductor did not
come down the train and sell them one. It's the passenger's
responsibility to buy a ticket, so they must seek out the conductor
to get one or if that is not possible, then buy a ticket at their
destination station."
 Across Merseyside, there were 2,583 occasions where passengers were
caught travelling on Northern services without a valid ticket last
year. 295 of those journeys started at Huyton, 250 from Whiston and
191 from Broad Green, all of which have staffed ticket offices and /
or ticket machines where customers can buy a ticket before they
board the train.
Alex continues:- "We know that some of our smaller stations
have limited opportunities to buy tickets, and we are investing in
new ticket buying facilities and currently carrying out independent
surveys across the network to gain information on how our customers
want to purchase tickets. This will allow us to continue to give our
customers easy and varied opportunities to pay for their journey.
However, the highest number of journeys made without paying for them
started at stations with open ticket offices and Ticket Vending
Machines."
Fare evasion continues to be a huge issue for the rail industry,
costing £240million per year.
The videos can be seen at:-
northernrail.org/getaticket.
Police Warning
comes after flares are stolen in Southport
MERSEYSIDE Police are
warning members of the public to be vigilant after flares were
stolen during a burglary in Southport. The 9 'marine flares' were
stolen from a garden shed that was broken into in Longford Road last
month. The homeowner reported the burglary the morning after it
happened, on 23 January 2014, but only noticed that the flares were
missing on Tuesday, 4 February 2014. 3 of the flares are described
as parachute flares and the others are called smoke flares. All of
them are out of date and could be dangerous if mis-used. Southport
neighbourhood inspector Darren Wilson said:- "These flares
could cause someone a serious injury as they are for use by trained
professionals in emergency situations so burn at an extremely high
temperature. It is not clear why they have been stolen as they will
be of no value, especially as they are out of date, and we believe
this was an opportunistic theft. If anyone is offered flares or any
kind of industrial firework for sale in suspicious circumstances, or
anyone comes across things like this hidden or thrown away, I would
urge them not to touch them and instead call the Police immediately
on:- 101." |
