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Southport Flower Show 2015
THE largest independent flower show in
the Country returns to Southport's Victoria Park, from 20 August to 23 August
2015.
Southport Flower Show is a 4 day celebration of the very best in garden design,
arts and crafts, shopping, family entertainment and food.
This year the show will welcome celebrity names including Benidorm TV star,
Sherrie Hewson as well as a host of famous gardening names including Christine
Walkden, the BBC One Show gardener and Joe Swift, of BBC Gardeners World.
Visitors will enjoy stunning show gardens and displays, live music and a purpose
built arena boasting a range of spectacular entertainment including free flying
birds of prey, dog displays and circus acts.
Added to this, the four day event hosts what has been termed the "Pop up
shopping village," one of the biggest independent shopping experiences in
the North West, with over 350 stalls, offering everything from craft wares to
items for the home and garden.
The food festival, featuring celebrity chefs including the French chef,
Jean-Christophe Novelli, will be a big feature of the show.
Visitors will have
the opportunity to try delicious delights from some of the region's finest
artisan food producers and watch live cookery demonstrations from
Jean Christophe and other professional chefs.
Tickets cost just £18 in advance, a 20% saving on the gate price. Children under
16 go free. For more information visit:-
SouthportFlowerShow.Co.UK or call them on:- 01704 547147.
UK's largest zoo extension
opens
THE UK's largest zoo extension has
opened to the public at Chester Zoo. This marks a significant day for Barton Willmore, the UK's largest independent, integrated planning and design
consultancy, which were instrumental to the 'Islands' scheme by advising
on the planning permission, adding the first Zoo project if its kind to their
repertoire.
Phase 1 of Chester Zoo's £40 million 'Islands' scheme launched on
13 July
2015 and is expected to welcome 150,000 visitors in its 1st year.
Islands features 5 different habitats linked with a series of bridges and a
'Lazy River' boat trip for visitors to explore. Islands hosts habitats and animals
from Panay, Papua, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi, with the project being one
of the most ambitious zoo developments in Europe, spanning over 50,000 square
metres.
Designed by Berlin based architects Dan Pearlman and expertly project managed by
Turner and Townsend, Phase 2 of Islands will house 'Monsoon Forest', the largest
indoor zoo exhibit in the UK, which will be home to Sumatran orangutans,
Sulawesi macaques and Sunda Gharial, a type of crocodile.
Collectively, the design and planning team has delivered Islands as part of the
Zoo's wider vision to retain its position as the UK's number 1 zoo.
After running a stakeholder and community engagement programme, Barton Willmore's team first submitted a planning application to Cheshire West and
Chester Council in 2009. Outline planning permission was granted in 2010 and the
Islands scheme received full planning permission in 2012.
Dan Mitchell, Partner at Barton Willmore's Manchester-based team, which led the
application, said:- "Our team has worked with Chester Zoo for 8 years. The
Zoo is one of the biggest visitor attractions in the UK, and the Islands scheme
is a major piece of its 'Natural Vision' strategy this has been a unique,
challenging and rewarding project to have supported. Chester Zoo is
immensely important to the region. Our team was able to draw upon both their
local knowledge and their experience planning internationally significant
projects and we are delighted to see its development." |
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John Pugh MP steps back in
time at WaterAid's Victorian street to support taps and toilets for all
%20WaterAid%20James%20McCauley.JPG) LOCAL
Lib-Dem MP, John Pugh, who represents Southport, has stepped back in time to
visit WaterAid's pop up Victorian Street, that has been sited outside
Parliament. As a result the Merseyside MP got to experience the sights and
smells of an era when open sewage ran through our roads and rivers, to mark 150
years of Britain's modern sewers.
The international charity welcomed more than 100 parliamentarians to meet
characters from Victorian times to discover what life was like during the Great
Stink of 1858 to highlight its call for the UK Government to lead the way in
ending the global water and sanitation crisis.
Mr Pugh also met some of the 115,056 supporters who signed WaterAid's 'Make it
Happen' petition, who came from across the country to discuss the importance of
ensuring everyone everywhere has clean water to drink and somewhere safe to go
to the toilet. He said:- "It has been an eye opening day, seeing what life
was like in Victorian Britain when people lacked access to safe water and there
was no decent sewerage system. Investment in water and sanitation had a huge
impact on our health and development, and that these are key to achieving a
healthier and more prosperous world. I am proud that the UK Parliament has made
the historic commitment to ending global poverty, investing 0.7% of our national
income in international development. As we develop the Sustainable Development
Goals for addressing global development, it is clear that water and sanitation
must play a central role."
Britain's 1st life saving sewerage system was created following the 'Great
Stink', when the stench of the polluted Thames was so unbearable, it
spurred MPs them into action to clean up the City.
%20WaterAid%20James%20McCauley.JPG) The
opening of the 1st modern sewage pumping station in 150 years ago, designed by
Sir Joseph Bazalgette, helped prevent cholera outbreaks in London. The disease
had had a devastating impact across the country since its arrival in 1831,
similar to the effect of Ebola in West Africa today. This marked the start of
Britain's drive to protect public health through good sanitation with similar
transformations following across the country.
This year also has a global significance, as the framework for the development
priorities for the international community until 2030 is being agreed in
September.
WaterAid's Chief Executive Barbara Frost presented the 'Make it Happen'
petition to Baroness Verma, Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State at the Department for International Development. Barbara said:-
"Our own history shows how water and sanitation can transform a nation, helping
to create a healthier and more prosperous society. Today, 650 million people
across the world still lack access to clean water and 2.3 billion have nowhere
safe to go to the toilet. Life in a densely populated slum bears far too close a
resemblance to UK Cities in the 1800s, representing a real and growing threat to
global health and stability. Diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor
sanitation is the second biggest killer of under 5's worldwide, claiming the
lives of 1,400 children every single day. The stink may be a bit further from
Westminster now; but that's no reason not to act. With the right political will,
we can solve the global water and sanitation crisis. This year we have a unique
chance to right this wrong as world leaders agree the new Sustainable
Development Goals to eradicate poverty over the next 15 years. Only with
investment in sanitation can we achieve a safe and secure future for everyone
everywhere."
A recent survey, commissioned by WaterAid and conducted by ComRes in May,
revealed that the British public thinks the most important sectors we should
support through UK aid are water, sanitation and hygiene, and health. However,
water, sanitation and hygiene currently receives a small fraction of UK aid
funding; that is just 2%, compared to 20% for health and 13% for education.
WaterAid is calling for increased investment in water and sanitation in order to
achieve improvements in health and other development areas, as having access to
these simple services is the foundation to climbing out of poverty. For example,
for every £1 invested in sanitation there's a return of around £5 in increased
productivity.
The charity is calling for the UK Government to:-
► Increase the proportion of aid spent on water,
sanitation and hygiene by at least 1% every year over the next parliament to
enable the UK to become a leader by 2020.
► Maximise the impact of UK Aid investments by making
sure that water, sanitation and hygiene services are in all health clinics,
schools, maternal, newborn and child health strategies, and plans to tackle
gender inequality.
► End Aid Dependency by working with developing
country governments to deliver and sustain water, sanitation and hygiene
services as part of sustainable national plans.
► Support the adoption and implementation of a
dedicated Sustainable Development Goal for water and sanitation, with targets
for universal access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.
Find out more please long on the the Water Aid's
website. |
