Jeff Wayne's 'The War of The Worlds - The Immersive Experience' has been recognised as a 2021 Travellers' Choice award winner and hailed as 1 of the best nights out in London

THE achievement celebrates businesses that consistently deliver fantastic experiences to travellers around the globe, having earned great traveller reviews on Tripadvisor over the last 12 months. As challenging as the past year was, Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds stood out by continuously delighting customers. The multi award winning Jeff Wayne's 'The War of The Worlds - The Immersive Experience' returned in 2021 with a new production, featuring:- live actors, virtual and augmented realities, 5D effects, plus the recorded voices of Moody Blues' Justin Hayward, Inglorious' Nathan James and Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson set to Jeff's multi platinum selling double album. Visitors meet a colourful cast of characters as they visit the Royal Observatory, sneak into a deserted house, and escape London on a boa,t down the Thames, whilst trying to survive the Martian invaders. Interactive holograms of Tom Brittney (Grantchester, Make Me Famous) and Anna Marie Wayne (The War of the Worlds - Alive ) feature as George Herbert, The Journalist and Carrie, The Journalist's wife, and Carrie Hope Fletcher (Heathers, Les Miserables, and The War of The Worlds - Alive!), as Beth, Parson Nathaniel's wife, PLUS a live cast of 12 actors completing an unforgettable live experience.

Carrie Hope Fletcher said:- "The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience is both thrilling and exciting. Importantly, it offers an opportunity where audiences can connect with other human beings on a very personal level. That sense of bonding is what we all crave right now! 'The War of The Worlds' story is the perfect metaphor for COVID where in the face of apocalyptic forces, humanity wins!"

The experience is currently ranked by TripAdvisor as London's favourite Immersive Experience. It is currently 10 of ALL London Nightlife despite only being open for 9 months before the 1st lockdown.  Andrew McGuinness, CEO of Layered Reality, the company behind the Experience said:- "We pride ourselves on offering great service and an out of this world experience, so it is wonderful to be recognised in this way. The transportative, escapism that immersive entertainment can provide is just what everyone has been looking for post lock down. Technology has been shown, crucially, to bring us closer together. Our intimate experiences catering for small groups of guests offer deep personal experiences that stick with them."

The awards recognise 345 experiences, tours, and activities globally, highlighting the world's best rated experiences overall. Tripadvisor gives a Travellers' Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% on Tripadvisor. Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at Tripadvisor. "The Travellers' Choice Awards highlight the places that are consistently excellent; delivering quality experiences time and time again even while navigating changing customer expectations and new ways of working. Based on a full year of reviews from customers, this award speaks to the great service and experience you provided guests in the midst of a Pandemic."

The award is 1 of many that Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Immersive Experience has won since it opened its doors last year. The company was also awarded the 2020 to 2021 The a Award for Outstanding Achievement in Connected Immersion. The LA based Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) Awards recognises achievement, talent and personal excellence within the themed entertainment industry. Previous winners include:- Universal Studios Parks and Resorts, Disneyland, Legoland in Denmark, and Punchdrunk (Sleep No More) in Shanghai. The TEA committee said:- "Jeff Wayne's 'The War of The Worlds - The Immersive' pushes past previous limits into the future of seamless multimedia story telling. It is outstanding beyond its many technical achievements, in particular its sheer ambition and duration. This attraction brings together many aspects of our industry on a scale that challenges us to think of other complex stories that could be told on a large scale. It is a trend to encourage."

To see traveller reviews of Jeff Wayne's 'The War of The Worlds - The Immersive Experience' see:- TripAdvisor.Co.UK.

Southport Pleasureland is inviting people to apply for a range of jobs as it looks ahead to a busy autumn

SOUTHPORT Pleasureland's Owner, Norman Wallis, says there is a wide range of roles available with flexibility on the hours that people can work. He is also seeking people of all ages and with a range of abilities to join an attraction which is always developing new ideas and which has some very exciting plans for the future.  Southport Pleasureland owner Norman Wallis said:- "I'm sure there are enough people in this Town, and across Sefton, who need good jobs. Perhaps there are people out there who are not necessarily looking for full time roles, maybe they are looking for part time roles. There might be people with families, parents with children, who are looking for working hours to suit them. We have over 100 people working here at Southport Pleasureland, the total figure is around 115 people. But we are expanding. We want to give more jobs to more local people. We are growing, and we need more people to join us."

This is an important time of year for recruitment for Southport Pleasureland. Many of the students who have been working there over the summer are departing to take on their University commitments. Norman Wallis has always been keen to operate a truly diverse and inclusive workforce, with age or gender no barrier to working. He wants to change people's perceptions from many years ago of a predominantly teenage workforce. After 18 months of turmoil during the Covid Pandemic which has seen various shops and other businesses closing, he believes that there are many people out there who have very transferable skills that they could utilise for a variety of roles at Southport Pleasureland.  He said:- "We are keen to take on people of all ages, older people as well as younger people. We want to create a longer term future for the people working here who want to be a part of what we are doing and where we are going, and also to provide flexible working opportunities for others. We want to change people's perceptions about what they think that working at Southport Pleasureland involves. People who haven't been here for a while really need to come and see all the greenspaces we have here, all the flowers, how spotless the park is, how safe it is. We are very family orientated. There is no rough element. People just need to talk to us. We are happy for people to come and job share, or to work part time, with hours that suit them. It was sad to see some local shops sadly close during the Pandemic. But there must be people out there who have worked in those places who have very transferable skills, and who are looking for new opportunities. Maybe there are parents who have children, and would enjoy coming to work here for so many hours each day. There are jobs available here at Southport Pleasureland. I am pretty sure that there are lots of people in Sefton who are not employed at the moment and would love to work here. We have lots of roles available: working in a coffee shop, in food outlets, as ride operators, people with a marketing background, mechanical roles, engineers, managers, housekeeping, cleaners, and more. We are like a village here! I have been jumping in to help with all sorts of roles during the summer. Some of our units, such as the beach bar at the front, we have sadly had to close on occasion because of a temporary lack of staff. It can be soul destroying when that happens. We would love to be able to employ more people and really give a boost to the local economy."

Are you interested in a job at Southport Pleasureland? Please email:- Info@SouthportPleasureland.Com.

Southport Astronomical Society says:- "We Are Back!"

THE 1st in person meeting of the new season and the 1st for over 15 months takes place on Thursday, 16 September 2021. The Society's own Bob Mount will give a talk about the:- 'Caldwell Catalogue' a collection of galaxies and clusters created by Patrick Moore, that are well worth having a look for. The talk begins at 7.30pm, at Scarisbrick Bowling Club, 1a Falkland Road, Southport. PR8 6LG. New members are always welcome (and can attend a meeting for free before deciding to join), if you want to join membership is ₤15 for a year (or ₤7.50 for under 16's.) and includes:- 2 meetings a month; 1 on Zoom and the other in person. Refreshments are available on the night at the Clubhouse Bar. For more information visit our website:- SouthportAstro.Org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.