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Southport in the eyes of others
AS we are
having all eyes and ears turning their attentions towards Merseyside
over Capital of Culture Year and with the Open only days off being
held in Birkdale, over the last few weeks we have done a bit of
digging and found out what people think about Southport.
We are finishing our undercover ecstasies in the next few days.
Our investigation have been to find out how the area is promoted
through out the UK and on an international level, but before we
publish our full findings we would like your views. Lets see
if local views are the same as national views and international
views... So....
What are your views on how we can
promote the area better?
Do you feel we do not
need to sell our selves anymore than what we already do?
Email us your view
to:-
news24@southportreporter.com.
We can reveal now that from our findings
have found that most posters on chat forums across the UK have mixed
feelings about the area. Most posters on chat rooms giving good and
bad reports about Southport question what is meant by Southport
being a 'classic resort'. The best post I have found
was on 'joylandbooks.co.uk'. The poster on that website,
going by the name 'furie' posted
a "Trip Report". We have copied a bit of
it as it was very interesting reading.
The report started:-
"It's the first time I've been since Pleasureland shut, and
didn't really expect to find much to do. It's a place of mixed
messages though. The council is pushing this 'classic resort' image.
The pier has a fantastic video showing on it - lots of history
(including some great shots of either the old Caterpillar coaster,
or the scenic), with an update on them now (minus Pleasureland
obviously). So you get this feeling that there's support for
everything which made Southport such a tourist attraction - yet...
The area around Pleasureland is already looking derelict. The
Lakeside Miniature Railway is certainly suffering - such a shame.
We
visited the model village which we all enjoyed too, but again, it's
sitting in what is essentially now a 'dead' area. There were people
about, but for a weekend at the end of June?
Nowhere near as many as
we'd have seen two summer's ago. So it's all about being 'classic',
but the idea of classic seems to be focused entirely on Lord Street,
and JJB sports??? I've talked to a few people about it, and they've
all said
"oh, it's lovely, I love the shops on Lord street!"
- then look bemused when you mention that you had a lovely time on
the beach, riding a miniature train, walked the pier and played
crazy golf. They didn't seem to know Southport was a seaside town!
I hope for the best for the town, but I suspect that within a couple
of years, everything which makes the front special and 'classic'
will have gone.
I'm glad that - as a family - we've enjoyed it, and
we'll certainly return each summer to support what is left. I just
hope Sefton push and make others realise what there is there."
(Ref.
Post
Posted:- Wednesday 2 July 2008 at 3:26pm. Post Subject:- Family
Holiday in Southport!) |
UNISON challenges North West MPs to swap jobs
ANGRY local
government workers across the North West have thrown down the
gauntlet to the region’s MPs. Come and join us in the front
line – and then try telling us we’re not worth a decent pay rise.
The challenge has been put to all 76 North West MPs in a no-nonsense
letter from UNISON members working for councils in their
constituencies. The letter has been sent by the union’s
Regional Secretary Frank Hont on behalf of nearly 100,000 members
being called out on strike next week. The workers are among 600,000
UNISON members nationally locked in a bitter dispute over pay.
They will be walking out on 16 and 17 July after rejecting a 2.45%
pay offer. The union wants 6% or 50p an hour, whichever is greater.
Mr Hont has invited the MPs to swap their desks in Westminster to do
the type of low paid jobs UNISON members do day in day out for
little more than the national minimum wage. He said:-
“We want MPs to roll up their sleeves to clean a school, cook
lunches for hundreds of children, visit the elderly and disabled
alongside a social care worker, empty residents’ bins or clean the
streets. Then they will gain a better picture of the difficult
and often dirty jobs our members do, many for less than £6.50 an
hour. That’s just 50p more than the minimum wage. Contrast
that with the obscene pay rises and bonuses currently being agreed
in the City of London for people who contribute little or nothing to
the lives of those in our communities.”
MPs who respond to UNISON’s invitation will be put in touch with
local union officials based at one of the region’s 46 local
government branches.
UNISON calls on local councillors to help to settle strike
PUBLIC sector
union UNISON is stepping up the pressure on local government
employers to settle this week’s 2 day strike over pay. Top
level talks were held at the union’s North West headquarters in
Manchester in an attempt to break the bosses’ silence. And
local branches are calling on councillors to demand employers return
to the negotiating table. Regional union leaders have accused
employers of being irresponsible by digging in their heels and
refusing to negotiate.
UNISON North West’s Head of Local Government Ray Short and leading
union representative Pat McDonagh met with employment chief David
Campbell from the North West Employers Organisation to make UNISON’s
position clear. They told Mr Campbell to go back and warn the
employers not to underestimate UNISON’s anger.
“We are
determined to do everything we can to make this strike as effective
as possible,” Mr Short told him. “The employers must
make a better offer – 2.45% is NOT enough.”
Mr McDonagh added:- “We have been driven to this point because
we’ve had a below-inflation pay rise for four years in a row and our
members cannot afford to take another pay cut.”
UNISON’s North West Regional Secretary Frank Hont said local
councillors had a responsibility to step-in and encourage employers
to settle the dispute and avert the inevitable disruption the strike
will cause local people. He said:- “Local councillors
cannot shrug off their responsibility in this dispute. They should
step-in now and put pressure on the local government employers to
deliver a fair deal. Local communities deserve quality
services and for that you need decent pay. The 2.45% offer goes
no-where near covering the hikes in food, fuel and energy bills. We
are talking about basics such as bread going up 9% and butter up
38%.
I am appealing to councillors across the North West to
get the employers back round the negotiating table and come up with
a fair pay offer to avoid disruption to local people and the need
for strike action by our members.” |
