Make note of the date for Southport Armed Forces Day 2025

THE Southport Armed Forces Day is set to evolve into an exciting new event in 2025, now known as the:- 'Southport Armed Forces Festival!' Mark your calendars for the weekend of:- 28 June to 29 June, 2025, as we celebrate our armed forces and the vibrant Town of Southport with an unforgettable weekend of festivities.

The Southport Armed Forces Festival will consist of 3 key elements designed to honour our military while showcasing the spirit of our Town:-

1. Carnival Celebration: The festival will begin with a colourful carnival on:- Saturday, 28 June 2025, celebrating our armed forces and all the fantastic aspects of Southport as a community. Organisers invite all schools, community organisations, groups, and local businesses to participate in the carnival parade, making this a truly inclusive event. The carnival will feature both a motorised section and a section on foot. The parade will be led by a military band, followed by the standards of military organisations and honoured military veterans. Representatives of our local cadet forces will accompany them, and then community groups will take their turn in the procession. The motorised element of the carnival will travel a longer route around the Town, showcasing vibrant floats and vehicles, while the foot parade will move from the fire station along the entire length of Lord Street. Organisers say:- "Together, we aim to create a fun and vibrant atmosphere that highlights everything excellent about our fantastic Town."

2. Battle of the Band's Music Concert: With Norman Wallis's kind permission, the Battle of the Bands concert will take place in Pleasureland's outdoor arena. This exciting event aims to cover as many musical genres as possible, ensuring there is music to suit most tastes. The concert will commence after the carnival has finished and will continue into the evening on:- Saturday, providing a fantastic opportunity for attendees to enjoy live music from local talent.

3. Traditional Armed Forces Day: In keeping with the organisers' commitment to honouring the military community, all veterans' organisations in Southport are invited to collaborate on this event, ensuring it fully includes our Armed Forces Community. This part of the festival will take place on:- Sunday, 29 June 2025, and will start with the traditional Drumhead multi faith military church service. This poignant service will offer a moment of reflection and gratitude for the sacrifices made by service members, providing an opportunity for everyone to come together in remembrance and solidarity. The customary parade, which is usually held on Armed Forces Day, will be integrated into the carnival festivities as part of this celebration. This will allow organisers to blend the joy of community engagement with the solemnity of honouring our armed forces.

The Southport Branch of the Royal British Legion, in collaboration with key organisations within the Town, will be the lead planners for the event. An initial planning conference will be held on:- Friday, 10 January 2024, at:- 10am, in Southport Town Hall. This conference will welcome all interested parties who wish to be involved in the planning and execution of this vital community event.

The Southport Armed Forces Festival promises to be a fun filled weekend for:- families, veterans, and everyone within our community. We invite residents and visitors to join us in making this event memorable as we honour those who serve and have served.

Please stay tuned for more updates and details about the festival on the Southport Royal British Legion official website.

Labour introduces landmark legislation to crack down on bosses polluting waterways in Southport

THE Labour Government has introduced major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain's rivers, lakes and seas; the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade. The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on United Utilities damaging the environment and failing their customers.

The introduction of the Bill comes as Labour's Secretary of State Steve Reed delivers a speech at:- Thames Rowing Club, on:- Thursday, 5 September 2024, to representatives from the water industry, investors, environmental groups and campaigners setting out his plans to transform the water sector. The Bill delivers on the manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including:- significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law breaking water executives. It will create new tougher penalties, including:- imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.

The new legislation will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company's finances.

Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.

Patrick Hurley, MP, said:- "After 14 years of Conservative failure, raw toxic sewage is being pumped into Southport. From Tarleton Runner to Three Pools Waterway, Southport constituency was polluted by:- sewage 379 times in 2023, lasting 1,573 hours. This relentless pollution is devastating local wildlife, endangering public health, and tarnishing the natural environment. That is why the Labour Government has introduced immediate action to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses. Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time. This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good."

Introduction of major new legislation for the water sector will deliver the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.
Water (Special Measures) Bill hands new powers to regulators to ban bonuses and impose tougher penalties for law-breaking, including imprisonment for water bosses.

In a speech this week, the Secretary of State outlined his long term vision to reform the sector and clean up water pollution.