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Southport to celebrate Argos New Store Opening
SOUTHPORT will
be celebrating the opening of a brand new Argos store on Thursday 5
June 2008. The store will be the first ‘Extra’ store
in the area, offering the full range of Argos products. It will
cover 15,000 square feet and employ around 35 staff.
The new store will open with the help of a competition giving one
lucky shopper the chance to win £500 worth of Argos vouchers.
Further promotions and competition winners will be announced on
local radio after the opening.
The new store will offer customers approximately 18,000 products
through the Argos catalogue, which will be available in store from
June 5th. There will be a cutting of the ribbon at 9am to mark the
opening with the managers and staff.
Store Manager, John Ferguson, commented:- “I am delighted to
be able to bring the full range of Extra products to Southport for
the first time. The new store will provide a full and thorough
service to the people of Southport, which includes free parking at
the front door.”
The new Southport store will also be celebrating the final months of
Argos’ UK charity partnership with Leukaemia Research, which has to
date, raised a record-breaking £700,000 for the UK’s leading blood
cancer charity. The partnership, which runs under the theme of
‘Saving and Improving Lives Together’, aimed to raise
£400,000 when it launched across all 670 plus UK Argos stores last
year. The partnership provides funds to support a special
cytogenetic database which will record symptoms and treatments of
different types of blood cancer to help spot patterns.
“We hope to be able to really do our bit when it comes to
fundraising for Leukaemia Research during the first few months that
the store is open” added Ferguson. “Through support
from our new customers in Southport, we’ll help Leukaemia Research
make future treatment for leukaemia and related blood cancers more
effective.”
Argos expects to add around 30 stores per annum. With sales topping
£4.3 billion in the year just ended, Argos serves over 130 million
customers a year through its stores. On average, 17 million UK
households, or around two thirds of the population, have an Argos
catalogue at home at any time.
6
Liverpool sporting venues included in London 2012 training camp
guide
THE London
2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has announced that 6 sporting
venues in Liverpool will feature in London 2012’s Pre-Games Training
Camp Guide for Paralympic sports which will be published later this
summer. The Guide is a comprehensive list of 179 venues throughout
the UK which can now be used by Paralympians from all over the world
as they make their final preparations for the 2012 Paralympic Games
in London. In total, 25 venues from across the North West are
included on the list.
Wavertree leads the list of Liverpool venues with the Liverpool
tennis, aquatics and athletics centres all being selected. Other
venues in Liverpool include Aintree Racecourse, Greenbank Sports
Academy in Sefton and the Litherland sports park. In addition
to being available to elite Paralympians in the build up to 2012,
each of the sporting venues continue to be used by members of the
general public on a day-to-day basis.
Stewart Kellett, Regional Director for Sport England North West,
commented:- “It’s a fantastic tribute to Liverpool that these
venues have been included on such an elite list and it highlights
the standard and quality of facilities available to our local
communities. The North West has some of the most advanced training
facilities in the country and we’ve already had enquiries from some
of the strongest Paralympic nations in the world who would
potentially like to use our facilities. Such recognition provides
fantastic inspiration and a once in a lifetime opportunity for
people of the North West to train alongside elite athletes.”
Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee, said:-
“The facilities listed in this Guide will really help overseas
athletes and teams prepare well for London 2012. The assessment
process we have conducted shows that there is a good spread of high
quality sporting facilities for athletes across the board. I hope
that as many teams and athletes as possible take advantage of these
facilities. Our vision is to use the Games to inspire change and
change attitudes towards people with a disability. We look forward
to welcoming Paralympic athletes to the UK in 2012”.
Anne McGuire, Minister for Disabled People, commented:- “I’m
delighted for each of the facilities that are included in the Guide.
We’re looking forward to seeing elite athletes from around the world
training here in advance of the Paralympic Games, raising the
profile of the Games and engaging with local communities across the
UK.”
Sport England is also poised to announce a major initiative to
identify and encourage young talent within selected disabled sports.
Full details will be announced during summer 2008 for the scheme
which will open up further pathways for younger athletes to fulfil
their dreams. For more information and to see a full list of
facilities, visit
http://www.london2012.com/news.
Nominate young heroes for the Diana Award today
DO you know
inspirational young people in your community or school that deserve
to be recognised for their work with the Diana Award? If so, the
Diana Award is urging community organisations, schools and groups
across the country to nominate young people today.
The Diana Award recognises young people, aged 12- to 8, who have made
an outstanding and selfless contribution to their communities, and
demonstrated the qualities associated with the late Princess;
compassion and a commitment to improving the lives of others.
Award Holders include volunteers, campaigners, fundraisers as well
as young carers and young people who, despite their own personal
difficulties or tragedies, continue to contribute to their
communities. The Diana Anti-Bullying Award, which is in addition to
the main award, recognises the work that young people of all ages do
to combat the problem of bullying in schools and communities.
Both Awards are valued highly by their holders because they never
expect to receive this kind of recognition for their work. Young
people are put forward by their schools, education authorities or
youth organisations for their existing compassion or commitment.
Receiving a Diana Award is just the beginning. Award Holders are
given access to a developing and life-long alumni programme to
support their personal development and their continuing involvement
in community projects.
Maggie Turner, Director of the Diana Award, says:- “The Diana
Award identifies positive role models that challenge existing
stereotypes of young people, and gives them public recognition at a
time when their life choices are still to be made, encouraging them
to develop to their full potential. Throughout the country there are
caring and compassionate young people who are an inspiration to all
of us and the Diana Award is looking for their nominations.”
To make a nomination for the Diana Award or the Diana Anti-Bullying
Award by
visiting:-
www.diana-award.org.uk
or by calling:- 0845 3372987
*Deadline for nominations:- 20 June 2008* |
Liverpool’s Most Vulnerable Youngsters Reach for Script Stardom
NORTHWEST
Vision and Media have teamed up with the BBC writersroom and NCH,
the children’s charity, to give some of the most vulnerable
youngsters in Liverpool the opportunity to develop their own
animated online soap.
“This partnership is the first of its kind, and Vision and
Media are very proud to be supporting the children in the NCH
Knowsley Family Intervention Project to produce their own
programme,” says Janette O’Carroll, Training and Development
Manager for Vision and Media. She is confident the 6-month project
will be a success. “Through workshops with some of the
area’s most disadvantaged children, professional TV writers are
harnessing the talents of their would-be successors to unlock and
nurture their creative talents in a hunt for the next generation of
top scriptwriters,” she adds.
Lucia Haynes is the writer working with the NCH’s Family
Intervention Project. She has previously written for BBC soap
Doctors, and is now busy developing the scripts for an animated soap
for the web with this group of young people. There will be 9
episodes, 60 seconds long each. ”Insecurities can start
young. Some children have no idea how brilliant they can be. That’s
why this project is extremely important,” explains Lucia.
“Through working with the kids, I’ve found the most important
thing is to guide them, but not impose. That way they’ve been able
to come up with all the ideas themselves. This project has exceeded
what I thought it could be. I’m proud to be a part of it,”
she adds.
Jade, aged 14, who attended the 1st pilot workshop at NCH’s Knowsley
Family Intervention Project in Liverpool, said:- “When I was
told about the workshops I thought they might be boring, but they
have actually been really fun. Last week animators came to the
session and I was really impressed by their sketches. I enjoyed
working from their sketches to make character models from plasticine,
and am looking forward to the next workshop.”
Earlier this year,
the BBC writersroom announced the appointment of 4 writers in
residence to work with NCH around the UK. Following an open call for
applications in October last year, shortlisted writers were invited
to outline their ideas for the project at interview, and 4 very
talented writers have been appointed in Liverpool and London.
“Under Lucia's guidance the kids have come up with all the
characters and stories for the episodes.
3rd year
students from the animation department at Liverpool John Moores
University are also on board to animate the episodes, and have
already met with the Knowsley kids to really make sure they are
delivering their vision. We hope that the soap when completed
will be good enough to broadcast on the NCH website and also on BBC
platforms, such as the Capital of Culture website. There is a lot of
excitement about the project and we even have Phil Redmond coming
over to meet Lucia and the children in Knowsley in a few weeks
time.” says Katherine
Beacon, Project Manager at BBC writersroom North...
Kate Rowland, Creative Director of New Writing at the BBC, says the
benefits of the project will work in both directions. “The
idea is to give young people access to some of the best writing
talent in the country, but it’s as much about giving these writers
access to unheard voices, who have fresh ideas and fresh
perspectives. The aim is that all of the projects will create work
for the BBC.”
NCH’s Chief Executive, Clare Tickell, explains why this project is
so important:- “This partnership is so exciting and unique,
offering our young people chances that never come their way.
Our
Growing Strong campaign has shown that building self-esteem,
confidence and resilience is vital for young people, particularly
for the most excluded. This scheme will help achieve this.
The doors
are now open to develop their skills through creativity and writing
to cope with many of the challenges they will face in the future.”
In addition to Lucia Haynes’ project in Liverpool, Roy Boulter,
writer for The Street (BBC1) and Brookside (Channel 4) is working
with NCH’s Young Runaways Project, also in Liverpool, while Ben
Schiffer, lead writer on Skins (Channel 4) and Spooks (BBC1), and
Peter Mills, who writes on Coronation Street (ITV), Casualty and
Holby City (BBC1), are working on NCH projects in London.
The
partnership will see writers taking residence in NCH projects across
the UK in coming months. |
