Blue Peter Gardener to attuned the Southport Flower Show 2023

LOVE Your Garden Presenter and Blue Peter Gardener to join the line up of special guests at this year's Southport Flower Show.

The Southport Flower Show Press Office has told us:- "We are delighted to announce that:- 'Love Your Garden' Presenter Katie Rushworth and Skinny Jean Gardener Lee Connelly will appear at this year's show. Katie Rushworth is an integral part of the successful presenting / gardening team from ITV's Love Your Garden. Katie found her passion and skill for gardening when she 1st did garden maintenance locally in Yorkshire. She decided to turn this love affair with gardening into a career after studying Horticulture, at Night School, and working part time at her local Garden Centre. Katie's enthusiasm for gardening comes across clearly for all to see on the ITV show. She has excellent plant knowledge and a great eye for design, function and beauty and this is conveyed to the watching audience with humour, expression and accessibility. She thrives on working outdoors in naturally beautiful habitats. Katie will be joining us again on:- Thursday, 17 August 2023. We can't wait to welcome her back."

Lee Connelly, The Skinny Jean Gardener is a children's and family gardening Presenter of 10 years, hosting on shows such as:- CBBC Blue Peter, BBC Teach, BBC Radio 1, plus appearances on:- ITV, Channel 4 and 5. In 2021 he was voted 1 of the UK's TOP 50 TV Gardening Presenters.

Lee has been touring the UK with his Biggest Gardening Entertainment Show, along with working with some of the UK's Biggest brands and creating content around children's and family gardening.

Lee will be encouraging kids to get involved with family gardening on:- Saturday, 19 August 2023. They will join Frances Tophill (Gardeners' World and Love Your Garden), Lee Burkhill (The Garden Ninja), Jason Williams (The Cloud Gardener), Keith Brymer Jones (The Great Pottery Throw Down), Daisy Desire (The Drag Queen Gardener), James Wong (Botanist, Broadcaster and Best Selling Author), Justin Fletcher (CBeebies Children's Entertainer) and Phil Vickery (ITV This Morning) confirmed to date with many more to be announced over the coming months.

Plans for this year's show we are told are well underway and the combination of garden and floral displays, cookery demonstrations, shopping village, arena entertainment, live music and much more makes Southport Flower Show a great day outdoors for the whole family this summer.

For more information about the UK's the largest independent Flower Show, which attracts over 55,000 visitors, across 4 days, please visit:- SouthportFlowerShow.Co.UK.
 

A ¼ of people in Merseyside aren't aware of changes to voting laws

ANTI extremism charity HOPE not hate say the changes to the way we vote could disenfranchise millions. A new poll from HOPE not hate has revealed that 24.9% of people in Merseyside aren't aware of new photo identification rules when voting in a Polling Station.

HOPE not hate found that:-

24.9% said they did not know about changes to the rules. This could mean 285961 people are unaware of the changes.

The highest constituency in the area is St Helens North, with 34.6% unaware of the changes, it does not have local elections taking place.

The highest constituency where local elections are taking place is Liverpool Riverside with 29.9% unaware.

Nationally, 32% of BAME voters did not know about the new rules, compared to 22.4% of white voters.

Nationally, 25 to 34 year olds were the least likely age group to know about the new rules with 36% saying they were unaware. Only 13.2% of 65s were unaware of the new rules.

The new rules will apply to the local elections taking place on:- Thursday, 4 May 2023.

Director of Campaigns, Georgie Laming said:- "It's very concerning to find that almost a ¼ of voters don't know about the new photo ID rules coming into force in May. With that many people unaware of the rules, we need to see more promotion of the changes to make sure that everyone is able to use their vote during the local election. There's a lot more to be done to educate the public about photo ID. Voters from BAME backgrounds are more likely to say they don't know about the rules than white voters, and younger people are disproportionately more likely to be unaware as well. There needs to be targeted outreach to these groups to make sure that they don't miss out on using their vote."

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union said:- "This new polling from HOPE not Hate is deeply concerning. It is clear that the new photo ID rules introduced by the Government could suppress the vote at this and future elections. The Government are responsible for bringing in these misguided changes. They now need to take responsibility for making sure that young people and voters from BAME backgrounds in particular are aware of the new rules so people don't lose their right to vote"

The campaign group has launched an online map where users can enter their postcode and view the statistics in their local area. The tool lists what forms of ID you can use on polling day and encourages people to download and print off a poster to put up in community spaces reminding people to bring valid photo ID with them to the polling station on:- 4 May 2023.

More information can be found at:- HopeNotHate.Org.UK.

HOPE not hate's Keep Your Vote campaign is supported by the National Education Union.

All polling and MRP data analysis (excluding estimates of voting population data) has been collected from a nationally representative sample of:- 11,199 adults between:- 5 April and 12 April 2023 via Focaldata.

MRP (multi level regression with poststratification) is a statistical technique for estimating public opinion in small geographic areas or sub groups using national opinion surveys.

MRP has 2 main elements. The 1st is to use a survey to build a multi level regression model that predicts opinion (or any quantity of interest) from certain variables, usually demographics. The 2nd is to weight (post stratify) your results by the relevant population frequency, to get population level (or constituency level) estimates.

Number of people who don't know about the changes calculated based on:- ONS 2020 population estimates.

Percentage of those responding no/don't know to:- "Are you aware that from this year, you can only vote in elections if you show an approved piece of photo ID?" by:-

Age:-	Ethnicity:-
18 to 24 = 31.5%   25 to 34 = 36.0%   35 to 44 = 29.3%   45 to 54 = 22.4%   55 to 64 = 15.8%   65 to 100 = 13.2%	BAME = 32%   Arab / Other = 33.3%   Asian = 32.3%   Black = 32.8%   Mixed Race = 29.0%   White = 22.4%
Gender:-	EU Referendum:-
Female = 23.0%   Male = 24.7%	Voted Leave = 18.8%   Voted remain = 20.3%   No vote or note registered = 31.8%
General Election 2019:-
Voted Brexit Party 2019 = 18%   Voted Conservative 2019 = 17.3%   Voted Green 2019 = 22.1%   Voted Labour 2019 = 20.1%   Voted Liberal Democrat 2019 = 18.7%   No vote or not registered 2019 = 32%   Other 2019 = 21.2%
Region:-
In the East Midlands, 22.8% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the East of England, 20.6% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the North East, 23.8% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the North West, 22.6% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the South East, 21.7% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the South West, 21.1% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In the West Midlands, 22.9% of people said:- "no/don't know"   In Yorkshire and the Humber, 21.8% of people said:- "no/don't know"

In London, 33.2% of people said:- "no/don't know" (Note... no elections are taking place in May in 2023 in London)

Did you know? HOPE not hate uses research, education and public engagement to challenge mistrust and racism, and helps to build communities that are inclusive, celebrate shared identities and are resilient to hate. For more information, visit:- HopeNotHate.Org.UK.