A double award-winning community green is heading for a hat trick of prizes with the help of new grant funded gardening equipment. Liverpool's Lister Residents' Association is hoping to reclaim its North West in Bloom title this year. Thanks to almost £500 from Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, members have been hard at work on the local community green with new tools, equipment, plants and shrubs.

The cash from the company's 500 Fund, one of many funds managed by the Community Foundation for Merseyside, has also funded compost bins to build on a community recycling initiative and help the Lister Community Green gardening team achieve competition success. The green-fingered group has been working round the clock to get the resident-run garden, situated in the city's Kensington area, to its blooming best ready for North West in Bloom judges.

The area is already a double prize-winner after being named North West in Bloom's Best Small Neighbourhood Garden in 2004 and Best Neighbourhood Garden in Liverpool City Tenants Garden Competition, also last year. The resident's will find out this year's results later this month. Once a neglected site, the green is now a popular place for summer barbecues and family fun days.

Dave Murphy, Lister Residents Association chairperson explained:- "Thanks to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company grant we are able to plant new shrubs and further enhance the hard and soft landscaping of the community green. We hope the green and its success in competitions will inspire other communities to run similar projects, turn derelict areas around and show people what local communities can achieve".

Details for current funding opportunities available to community groups are available from the Community Foundation. Contact the Grants Team for more information. Phone:- 0151 966 4604 or visit www.cfmerseyside.org.uk. 

FEATURE filmmakers have yet again chosen world heritage status city Liverpool as a location double for New York. 'Beyond Friendship', which stars American Actress Winona Ryder is due to be partly shot in the city (Thursday 4 to 7 August) at the location of Brunswick St and Fenwick St, the setting used by the makers of the 2004 hit 'Alfie' (Starring Jude Law). Filmmakers have been in talks with Liverpool City Council's Film Office (managed by North West Vision) to find an area that could most resemble 1940's New York. The production team were certain Liverpool could work for their production after seeing the how the city was transformed for Alfie.

Liverpool has a long tradition of being used a double for features, not least as New York and in recent years has doubled for many international cities including London, Prague, Vienna and Moscow.

Alice Morrison, Chief Executive of North West Vision, said:- "Liverpool has a great filming history and has been used for countless feature films and TV productions. This can be attributed to the film friendly local authorities, diverse range of filming locations and talented crew and facilities. Why go to New York when you have got Liverpool?"

Councillor Warren Bradley, Executive member for leisure and culture, said:- "This is a real coup for Liverpool and further evidence that the city has the locations and facilities that film makers want. We now have an unrivalled reputation as a place, which can handle any scale of production. The film economy is worth millions of pounds per year to Merseyside and helps sustain hundreds of jobs ranging from editors to caterers." 

Pier Head in Liverpool will also be used as a location for the 4 day shoot being made by Films 18 Limited. The filming in Liverpool follows an extensive shoot in Rhodes, Greece..

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