Africa Oyé scoops People's Choice Award as winners revealed at Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards

AFRICA Oyé, Roger Phillips and actress Elsie Kelly were among the winners at the Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards.

BBC Question of Sport captain and Olympic gold medallist Sam Quek MBE took to the stage at:- St Helens Rugby League Stadium, to host the glittering ceremony honouring the creative talent and achievements of people in the City Region.

Music festival Africa Oyé took the People's Choice Award for Outstanding Contribution to Culture, after more than 3,000 votes were cast by the public.

Actor and comedian Johnny Vegas presented his:- 'Benidorm' on screen mum; Liverpool born actress Elsie Kelly; with a Judges Inspiration Award (Lifetime Achievement) while Roger Phillips was commended for his 42 years of service to the BBC.

Judges shortlisted 47 finalists in 15 categories for the 5th annual awards.

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram said:- "I launched these awards because I wanted to shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals and businesses who go above and beyond every year to help make our area the UK's cultural capital. Their exceptional talents help to enrich all our lives and make our Region one of the most vibrant and exciting places to live, work, study, visit, or do business in. To put it simply: creativity is in our DNA. It's why I specifically set aside 1% of our funding especially for cultural activity, the 1st scheme of its kind in the country, to support cultural initiatives across our area. All our winners and finalists have played a part in ensuring our Region's culture has the maximum possible impact on our residents' lives; a massive congratulations to every single one of them!"

Other winners included National Museums Liverpool, scooping the brand new Innovation of the Year category for their 'House of Memories on the Road' project, and 'Help Ukraine Song' which picked up the International Reach Award for its global musical moment during Eurovision to show solidarity with Ukraine.

Councillor Mike Wharton, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Business for the Liverpool City Region said:- "Another successful event celebrating the impact culture and creativity has on all of us in the Liverpool City Region. Whether that's art, technology, business or science, the Culture and Creativity Awards never fail to showcase the vast amount of talent and innovation we have in the City Region and that is all contributing to the area's positive economic growth. Every year manages to be bigger and better than the last. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!"

Sir Phil Redmond said:- "Culture and creativity are the foundations of most projects. It's implementing an alternative way of doing things or a lateral way of thinking. These awards were created to recognise those approaches in whatever sector people work in, however big or small the organisation. I hope we continue to celebrate the contribution of culture and creativity in bringing a fresh and inspiring look at even the most common things in life. It creates new opportunities, new inventions and enables people to make a real impact."

Wirral born Olympic hockey star turned TV presenter Sam Quek said:- "It was an amazing unique event and I enjoyed hosting it very much. To see the scope and variety of the people and groups involved and what they are doing to support their communities was inspiring. Culture and creativity permeate so many fields, it's certainly a big part of sport, so it was lovely to see areas outside of the traditional arts recognised in this way. We should see more of it!"

Established in 2019 as part of the Mayor Steve Rotheram's pledge to invest 1% of the Combined Authority's budget into cultural activities, the awards honour the contribution the cultural and creative sectors bring to the Region and the difference they make to people's lives.

The 2024 event was sponsored by:- The ACC Liverpool Group Ltd, Davies Partnership, The Manufacturing Technology Centre Limited, Liverpool One, Novotel Liverpool Paddington Village, Sedulo, Glass Futures, World of Glass and Charity Bank.

Local Conservatives Urge Sefton Council to Publish Southport Pier Report ASAP

AS the detailed survey of Southport Pier by civil engineers, A E Yates, has recently finished, local Councillors are asking Sefton Council to push for the report from the engineers to be published as soon as possible and before the Local Elections. Mike Prendergast, Conservative Leader on Sefton Council and Dukes Ward Councillor, is calling on Sefton Council to commit to publishing the report before the Local Elections on:- 2 May 2024.

Councillor Prendergast said:- "There is a huge amount of public interest in Southport Pier and its ongoing closure is continuing to have a negative impact on our local economy. The detailed survey is costing local taxpayers around £400,000 and on their own social media post, Sefton Council have talked about the draft report being available in about a month's time. This should mean we have the final report well before the Local Elections in May and, hopefully, before the next Council meeting in April. However, we have seen in the past that, on occasion, Sefton Council does seem to wait to announce bad news until after the Local Elections. We saw this when Ofsted inspected Children's Services in February 2022, but the report rating the services as inadequate was only published after the elections in May 2022. The new Leader of the Council has committed to being open and transparent, something that I think all Councillors welcome. There has been a culture of secrecy under the last administration with a large number of serious decisions being taken without important financial information being made available to all Councillors. So, I hope we get a commitment from Sefton Council that they will ensure, as the paying customer, that the final civil engineering report will be made publicly available before the Local Elections take place. If we are paying £400,000 for a report, I would like to think there would clauses in the contract ensuring it is concluded within a certain timeframe. The public, who are paying for this report, have a right to know what's in it as soon as it's available."

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