- Circus
comes to town.
-
- Visitors
to Pleasureland Southport will be entertained this
summer by Circus Jamba. They are an
acrobatic troupe from Kenya, and it is this troupe's
third consecutive season at Pleasureland, with the
high-energy mix of tumbling and human-pyramid building
proving to be one of Pleasureland's most popular
shows.
- The 20 minute
show is non-stop, and with six performances a day everyone
should be able to catch it. Circus Jamba will run from
20th July to September 1st in the Pleasureland Pavillion,
and if you've purchased a wristband you can watch the show
for free.
- Pleasureland's
Marketing Manager Stephen Christian was pleased to see the
act return, "We've had a fantastic audience response
from the show over the past two years and we are keen to get
them back again this season. they cram so much into
quite a short set and it often leaves the audiences
breathless."
-
- Talent
Camps.
-
- Top
Coaches line up for the North West Sports Talent Camp.
Several of the North
West's Top Coaches will be in Presten next weekend (19
-21 July 2002) to help hundreds of talented young
athletets towards sporting stardom.
- Glen
Keeley, the former Newcastle United and Blackburn
Rovers defender Jeremy Harries, coach of the Olympic
and World Championships 1500m star Helen Pattinson,
and John Nuttall, the Preston sporting hero who
acheived success on an international scale, are among
a host of sporting names sharing their skills with
youngsters in the first Active Sports Talent Camp
North West.
- Twelve
hundred children between the ages of 8 to 16 years
have been selected from across the region for a
weekend of coaching, competitions and workshops in the
9 active sports of athletics, basketball, girls'
football, hockey, netball, rugby Union and Rugby
League, swimming and tennis.
- The
ground braking scheme, funded by Sports England in the
run up to the Commonwealth Games, will help identify
potential world class talent from a total of 10,000
participants nationwide. They will be supported
by 2,500 coaches, officials and volunteers.
The University
of Central Lancashire has been chosen to host the
Camp. Other venues being used are Preston College,
West View Leisure Centre and Blackpool SportsCentre, Presten
Grasshoppers RFC, Robin Park Arena and South Ribble Tennis
Centre.
Other coaching
celebrities include Martin Lofthouse, Head Coach for all the
All England Net Ball Association, herself an ex-England
player and Ian Talbot we represented Great Britin in Rugby
Leage. Ian now captins Chorley in the Northern Ford
Premiership Leage. Bringing her experiances to the pitch is
Regional Development Manager for Rugby League Julia Lee,
along with husband and wife team Helen and John
Cobb.
Cancellation
of Games.
Please
note that unfortunately the Sefton Active 8 Games to
be held on the 14 July 2002 has been canceled.
The
event that was to take place at Bootle Sports Stadium
from 10am to 3:00pm as part of the Sefton Health start
Festival had to be cancelled and anyone wanting
information about thi8s cancellation should call
Health Start on 0151 707 2566. There are no
plans to reschedule another date for this event in
2002. If any changes are made we will notify you
immediately.
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SUMMER ENGINEERING WORKS
This summer sees the latest phase in the modernisation
of the West Coast Main Line, one of the largest and most complex railway construction projects in Europe.
For 18 consecutive weekends, from 10th August - 8th December 2002, the lines between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead will be blocked as major renewals work is carried out on the route - a key rail artery linking London to the Midlands, North West and Scotland.
Works on this 25mile stretch of railway include the replacement of track and overhead lines, as well as the installation of a new junction at Ledburn, allowing trains to cross over from one line to the next at increased line speed. In addition, Railtrack is carrying out improvement works on the line between Wolverhampton and Stafford as part of the continuing £200 million modernisation of the Cross Country network, with further renewals work taking place along the route throughout the summer.
Railtrack and the train operating companies are making every effort during this period to provide alternative travel arrangements, including a major coach replacement operation to service passengers between Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead, ensuring that passengers are able to complete their journeys with as little disruption as possible.
Coaches will meet every train, transferring passengers from station to station past the blockaded section of track. There will be 150 coaches in operation during the works with a further 80 on standby. Coach services will be either non-stop to replace express trains, or will call at selected or all stations to replace the stopping services. Specially adapted road vehicles will carry disabled passengers who are advised to contact train operators in advance.
Facilities at both Milton Keynes and Hemel Hempstead will be improved to manage the increased number passengers who will be using these stations as interchanges. A new forecourt has been built at Hemel Hempstead where additional parking has been arranged and a special area for replacement coaches has been set aside. An additional access ramp is also being installed to keep station congestion to a minimum.
Similarly, improvements are being made at Milton Keynes. The lifts are being completely renovated and there will be an on-site engineer for quick response if there should be any equipment failure. A new ramp is being installed to provide a direct link to the waiting coaches and ease station congestion.
Virgin Trains and Silverlink have recruited an extra 38 staff for the peak hours at Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes to look after the needs of passengers and answer any queries, making the interchange between coach and train as seamless as possible. There will also be additional staff at the intermediate stations from Berkhamsted to Bletchley where train services are replaced by coaches.
In addition, for passengers travelling between the West Midlands and London, Chiltern Railways will be running extra train services from Birmingham Snow Hill to London Marylebone, with two trains hourly in each direction on most Saturdays and Sundays. Also during this time, up to 18 freight trains per day will be diverted from the West Coast Main Line onto the Chilterns route during the affected weekends.
To give an overview of the summer works on the West Coast Main Line and explain the alternative travel arrangements in operation during the 18 weekends, Railtrack and Virgin Trains will be holding a special briefing at the Holiday Inn Crowne Hotel, Liverpool, on Thursday 11th July, starting at 10am and running until 11.15am.
Article by Railtrack Press Office.
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