Local artists invited to capture City's iconic landmarks with Liverpool 1

ASPIRING artists will have the chance to show off their talents as Liverpool 1 hosts a massive outdoor sketching and painting event to mark the Liver Sketching Club's 150th Anniversary. The free event, which takes place on Saturday, 9 July 2022, will give painters and sketchers the opportunity to capture both landscape and portrait models right across the retail and leisure destination. Visitors will be able to drop in to various painting and sketching points across 12 locations, including:- the Green Flag awarded Chavasse Park, the newly installed Liverpool sign on Thomas Steers Way and Sugar House Steps. Those taking part will then be encouraged to submit photographs of their creations for the chance to have their work shared by Liverpool ONE. Set up in 1872, the Liver Sketching Club is the oldest continuously active art club in England, with members meeting around 40 times each month at the club's studio on Water Street to draw and paint. Now, the club is marking its milestone birthday by encouraging newcomers to art to get involved and create their own masterpieces, with expertise being offered by club members throughout the day.

Peter Holland, Club President of the Liver Sketching Club, said:- "We are incredibly proud to have reached such a landmark anniversary, having coached and worked with some of the City's most talented artists. As a City, Liverpool perfectly lends itself to helping to create fantastic pieces of art; from its iconic skyline to the hidden corners of the City, there are tonnes of opportunities to sketch or paint something that's truly unique. Our anniversary event at Liverpool 1 will give us the chance to get out and meet newcomers to art, as well as showing visitors what our members can do…and how they could be part of it, too! We'll have volunteers dotted around, who are all really keen to share tips, help newcomers hone their skills, and pass on their expertise, so it should be a very special event."

Sketching and painting points will be located at the following:

► John Lewis and Partners bridge, facing Thomas Steers Way (landscape)

► Peter's Square by Hotel Chocolat (model)

► Slope of Chavasse Park, near flat path at bottom (landscape and model)

► Amphitheatre at the top of Sugar House Steps (model)

► Stone podium on Chavasse Park near The Club House (model)

► Under John Lewis and Partners canopy on Paradise Street, facing Sailors' Home Gates (landscape)

► Liverpool Sign (landscape)

► Between Millie's Cookies and Hilton Hotel, facing Sugar House Steps/John Lewis and Partners (landscape)

► Centre of Paradise Street, facing John Lewis and Partners (landscape)

► Centre of Paradise Street, facing Zig Zag Steps (landscape)

► Upper South John Street bridge (landscape)

► Centre of Chavasse Park

As part of the event, visitors will have a choice of drawing costumed models, following along with a landscape painting demo or booking a space on sessions hosted by Apple Store and Cass Art. Anyone taking part is encouraged to bring their painting/sketching equipment, but there will be a limited number of goody bags containing equipment on the day.

Donna Howitt, Place Strategy Director at Liverpool ONE, said:- "Our City is home to some incredible talent, so it's really exciting to be hosting this event here at Liverpool 1 and helping to mark the Liver Sketching Club's 150th anniversary. We're hoping the celebration will encourage the next generation of artists to pursue their ambitions and take steps to hone their skills. The event will also no doubt create a real buzz across Liverpool 1 and will provide great spectator opportunities, too."

No booking is required for the event, but visitors will need to register their interest in activities hosted by Apple and Cass Art, by going along to the main info point on Chavasse Park. These sessions will last 90 minutes and take place at 1pm and 3pm. For more information about the event, visit:- Liverpool-One.Com.

Manufacturers in the North West call for Government to set a 15% GDP target for UK manufacturing

ON the UK's 1st National Manufacturing Day, Make UK is calling on Government to set an ambitious target for the country's manufacturers to deliver a 15% share of UK GDP, up from 10% this year. To mark the day, Make UK has published a short bulletin, Manufacturing: State of the Industry, the Potential for Growth which suggests that growing manufacturing's contribution from the current 10% to 15% of GDP would deliver £142 billion to Britain's economy and would help to achieve the Government's desire to level up large swathes of the country.

Make UK is calling on the Government to work with industry to develop a reinvigorated Industrial Strategy to help turbo-boost untapped potential. This comes as these latest figures, reveals that just 75% of companies have not heard of the Government's 'Plan for Growth', which Ministers heralded earlier this year as the replacement for the long awaited Industrial Strategy, which laid out a long term growth plan for manufacturing in the UK. Manufacturers have told us they are ready to grow, but they cannot do this alone; they need the right support from Government to create the correct business environment to enable companies to thrive.

When we asked manufacturers to pick the top three initiatives to help them grow their business in the next 5 years, companies put incentives for investment top of the list, with investment in apprenticeships second and stronger local industrial strategies coming in third place for 27% of manufacturers. Greater support for exports was also seen as key, with 22% of companies surveyed telling us greater power for local leaders making good local decisions for business was key.

To kickstart growth ambitions across Britain's manufacturing sector and give companies the confidence to make bigger and bolder decision, Government should:-

► Make the Annual Investment Allowance increase permanent.

► Expand the R&D tax relief scheme to include capital expenditure.

► Reform the Apprenticeship Levy to make it work better for business.

► Create a business rates scheme that helps, not hinders business investment decision.

► Deliver simple bespoke export support to business including improving access to local market knowledge in new export markets

The super deduction should also be extended to kick start investment until a generous and long term capital allowance scheme is introduced. This could be a permanent increase to the Annual Investment Allowance or full expensing, as currently proposed by the Treasury. Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK said:- "Government has already identified manufacturing as a growth sector and has done much to support it, firstly through incredibly challenging environment of the Pandemic and with a series of measures to help the sector bounce back as trade started to normalise. However, to further tap into the growth, agility and resilience Britain's manufacturers have shown over the last two years, imaginative solutions are needed to make sure the full potential is reached. It is not an overly ambitious target to say that manufacturing can grow to deliver 15% share of UK GDP, but Government does need to help companies be confident enough to make big investment decisions by helping with some key incentives such as making the Annual Investment Allowance increase permanent and expanding the R&D tax relief scheme to include capital expenditure."

Some 13% of manufacturers told us that help for investment in digital technologies would also enable them to speed up their growth plans. Cutting edge technologies such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence (AI) among others are transforming the sector, with investment turbo boosted during the Pandemic. Lower costs, increased productivity and achieving carbon emission reduction are some of the benefits manufacturers are already seeing, but help for companies to further invest in capital equipment to speed up decarbonisation would also simultaneously deliver a productivity boost through better, more efficient processes and equipment. Companies also cited difficulty in accessing finance as a major barrier to growth. Britain's manufacturers are already major players in the global export market, but to help speed up expansion into new lucrative global markets, Government should quickly expand its export support programme to give on the ground advice in new markets to help companies make the right export decisions and get the most from the available.

Life Rooms re-opens at Liverpool Everyman Theatre

THE Life Rooms are set to re-open their site at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre following the relaxation of Covid19 restrictions to provide the local community with learning, education and employment opportunities. The site was closed in March 2020 at the start of the Pandemic after seeking guidance from Public Health England and NHS England to ensure visitors and staff remained safe and has remained closed since.

Michael Crilly, Mersey Care's Director of Social Inclusion and Participation explained:- "Our 1st priority when the Pandemic 1st began was to keep people safe which was why we acted so swiftly to shut the doors, but we're delighted to be working together with the Everyman again and welcoming everyone back. Our drama, creative writing and poetry sessions were among the more popular classes we did as a partnership so we're delighted to be working together again to provide these services to the people of Liverpool."

The site is due to re-open again on 11 July 2022 and in addition to drama, creative writing and poetry, it will offer mental and physical health lifestyle sessions and advice on education and employment. Life Rooms Everyman will be available every Monday and Tuesday from 10am to 3pm.

Nathan Powell, Artistic Associate from Liverpool's Everyman and Playhouse Theatres said:- "We are so excited to be opening our doors again with Life Rooms. Our buildings are spaces to meet, be creative and feel connected and that's everything that Life Rooms stands for. We are thrilled with this partnership."

The re-opening of this important City Centre site follows the recent launch of a new centre at Lee Valley Millennium Centre in the Belle Vale area of Liverpool. Other sites have been successfully established in Walton, Southport and Bootle, in addition to several other drop in sites across the Region. Since opening its 1st Life Rooms in Walton in 2016, Life Rooms sites have become focal points for their local communities and, after being forced to shut their doors during the Pandemic, developed an online learning platform that has been viewed over 30,000 times since March 2020. After returning to face to face contacts in October 2021, over 11,000 people have visited their sites and over 6,000 people have attended face to face learning sessions in Liverpool and Sefton.