Chamber member Woodlands Hospice are appealing for people to help support them through their ‘Light Up A Life’ camapaign:

Christmas is a time for thinking about special people in our lives or remembering our loved ones.

Why not give thanks for the special people in your life, living or deceased, by dedicating a light on our Christmas Trees to them.  Your light/s can then shine out in the darkness, a symbol of your love for them.

If you dedicate a light or lights through our ‘Light up a Life’ celebration you are not only remembering someone you love but also helping us by giving a donation to the hospice.  Your support will help us to continue to deliver specialist palliative care to those suffering from a life threatening illness within your own community.

In this our special year when our new inpatient unit has opened we hope that more people will come on board to support our ‘Light up a Life’ initiative as we will need more lights to light up our Christmas Trees.

The financial pressures on the hospice to raise even more money now that the inpatient unit dream has become a reality are greater than ever to ensure the future stability of the hospice.   All money raised through our annual ‘Light up a Life’ initiative will go directly towards securing the overall services of the hospice including our new inpatient unit.  Care at Woodlands Hospice is provided free of charge and this extends to carers and family of patients as well as the patients themselves.

To make a donation and light up a life, please email carole.riley@woodlandshospice.org

The BBC are looking for people with extraordinary life stories for a new TV series:

My Story is about finding remarkable true stories of ordinary people that could be turned into bestselling books.  We’re looking for extra-ordinary true life stories from all over Britain. They might be dramatic, heartwarming, funny or sad - as long as they’re true, we want to read them.

Within the business world, your story might be one of rags to riches, losing everything and starting again, inventing something incredible, overcoming great challenges and turning your life around, doing something inspirational within the business community or something entirely different.

Fifteen people’s stories will be told in a major new five part series to go out next year on BBC1.  Five of these people will win book deals plus a cash advance of £20,000.

My Story is not a writing competition as the winning stories will be ghostwritten by the publisher Harper Collins. But if your story is chosen, your name would appear on the cover of your own book.

Applications should be made via the website: www.bbc.co.uk/mystory and add a summary of your story in no more than 1500 words.  All applications should be written in English or Welsh.

If applicants don’t have access to the internet, please apply via post to My Story, PO Box 65655 London W12 2BG.

The closing dates for entries is 16th December 2009.

A UK - Jamaica Investment Forum is taking place in London Next February:

Background
On 5th February, 2009 over 150 delegates attended the First Jamaica-UK Investment Forum at Church House in central London. The Jamaican government, represented by its Deputy Prime Minister and several cabinet ministers, alongside several major businesses came to the UK for the purpose of engaging with the investment community from the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.

A number of specific investment sectors were discussed in detail with keynote presentations made by the Jamaican High Commissioner to the UK, the Caribbean Council, the Department for International Development (DFID) and parliamentarians. Private sector organisations who presented at the event included Digicel Group, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Grace Foods.

The event was immensely successful in highlighting Jamaica’s business opportunities and allowing for productive networking with a view to mobilising future investment. The attendance and level of attendees was well matched by an engaging programme with high-level speakers. The day’s activities portrayed Jamaica in a highly favourable light in terms of a destination point for FDI and greatly helped Jamaica’s profile within the business community in the UK and beyond.

The Jamaica-UK Investment Forum, 2010

Click ‘more’ for details…

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Visitors to Liverpool Chamber may notice some new works of art going up around the place.

The works are being rented from Chamber member Dot Art. We’ve brought them in to brighten up the old place, modernise the building’s decorations and highlight some of the many talented artists from the region.

The works range from the highly figurative through to the exclusively abstract, which will hopefully mean there’s something to suit everyone. Featured artists are Nathan Pendlebury, Val Robinson and Grahame Ashcroft.

We’ve got statements from the artists about their work. Click ‘more’ to read them.
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Youth charity Fairbridge in Merseyside, is running two music events this December, with all proceeds going towards supporting local young people to turn their lives around even if circumstances have led to them being homeless, unemployed or out of education and with no belief in themselves. The projects the fundraising will pay for aim to boost confidence and motivation and get these young people back into education, employment or training.

Christmas Carols and Mince Pies @ St Barnabas   

Tuesday 8 December 2009 - 7.30pm

Featuring Calderstones School Choir and Orchestra, The Liverpool Festival Choir and Greenbank School Choir. Conducted by Colin Porter.

Location
St Barnabas Church,
Mossley Hill, L18 1LZ

Doors open at 6.30pm for mulled wine and mince pies before the concert. Seating is unreserved.
Band Night @ Bumper  

11th December 2009

The Deal…£5 to see 5 bands (if you purchase tickets in advance) at a city centre location.

The Bands…

The Sterlings http://www.myspace.com/thesterlingsliverpool
Charlie and The Ghosts http://www.myspace.com/charlieandtheghostsuk
The Bo Weevils http://www.myspace.com/theboweevils
The White Labels http://www.thewhitelabels.co.uk/
The Mission Babies http://www.myspace.com/missionbabies

Tickets: In advance £5
On the door: £6 (does not guarantee entry as places are limited so booking in advance is advised).

Location
Bumper, 14-18 Hardman Street. Liverpool. L1 9AX

Doors: 7.00pm

Purchasing tickets for these events
Please contact clare.doran@fairbridge.org.uk  TEL: 0151 709 5881 (9-5pm Monday to Friday) or 07979737351.

Tickets for both events are being sold from the centre @ 36 Slater Street, Liverpool, L1 4BX 9-5pm Monday to Friday but please call or email to arrange alternative times/places to collect tickets.

Thursday 26th November is the last chance this year for visitors to experience breathtaking night time views of the city from Liverpool Cathedral tower.

The tower has been open to the public until 8.00pm every Thursday since October, thanks to funding from the North West Development Agency’s Heritage Tourism Improvement Scheme to install lighting.

The Tower Experience is a ‘must see’ for all visitors to the city – more than 41,000 have been up to the top of the tower in 2009, with the extended opening hours seen as an important factor in this.   

Although the Autumn late night openings will finish for 2009, they have proven to be so successful that there are plans to reinstate them in 2010.

Eryl Parry, Director of Enterprise for Liverpool Cathedral said, “A wide variety of people have come to the tower for late night viewings – people that want to take time out and reflect, those who can’t get to the Cathedral during the day, keen photographers and tourists. We wanted to allow greater flexibility of opening times and to give people the chance to experience the fantastic sight of the city at night. Those who have caught one of those spectacular sunsets over the river have said it’s something they’ll never forget.  We are delighted that we have had such a fantastic response and will are now looking at running late night viewings in 2010.”  

For press enquiries, please contact stuart.haynes@liverpool.anglican.org 0151 705 2150 0753 421 8122

The final winning design in the Liverpool Echo’s Open Culture Benchmark competition is to stand outside the new Museum of Liverpool, down at the Pier head. Designer Ilsa Parry, who recently won the Philippe Starck BBC2 Design for Life competition, is now asking the people of Merseyside to help to complete her Storyteller bench.

Ilsa’s winning design, which she also used as part of her submission to enter the Design for Life, is set to be turned into reality.  And she’s asking Merseysiders to contribute their words, phrases, poems, song lyrics, stories, amusing anecdotes and snippets of letters or other text. A selection will then be engraved on the finished bench.

Ilsa’s bench was one of three winners chosen by a public vote in the Open Culture backed competition during 2008. The others, Colin Parry’s All Together Now and schoolgirl Lauren Lawler’s Secrets bench, have already been created and installed across Liverpool.

How to submit:

Write about what means something to you - it could be a short story, poem, experience, snippet of conversation, words to a song you have written or something you have overheard which makes you proud to be Liverpudlian.

Send it along with your name and contact details to either:

By Post - Storyteller, Open Culture, Liverpool Innovation Park, 360 Edge Lane, Liverpool L7 9NJ

By Email - storyteller@culture.org.uk

The closing date is Friday November 27. All entries will be read but only parts of submissions may be used.

A new map illustrating the global consequences of failing to keep climate change to under 2 degrees Celsius has been launched by the UK Government.

With just days to go before international climate change talks begin in Copenhagen, British ministers are pressing for the most ambitious deal possible in order to avoid these dangerous impacts.

The map – launched at the Science Museum by Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, along with the UK’s Chief Scientist, Professor John Beddington, was developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. The poster highlights some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial climate average.

See the map online here.

Ahead of December’s international climate change talks in Copenhagen, the Government is aiming for an agreement that limits climate change as far as possible to 2 degrees Celsius. Increases of more than 2 degrees will have huge impacts on the world.

The poster shows: that a 4 degree average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe. The land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases.
The average land temperature will be 5.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The impacts on human activity shown on the map are only a selection of those that may occur, and highlight the severe effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, extreme temperatures and drought, the risk of forest fire and sea level rise.

Agricultural yields are expected to decrease for all major cereal crops in all major regions of production. Half of all Himalayan glaciers will be significantly reduced by 2050, leading to 23% of the population of China being deprived of the vital dry season glacial melt water source.

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband said, “We cannot cope with a 4 degree world. This map clearly illustrates the scale of the challenge facing us today - climate change is a truly global problem that needs a global solution and it is a solution we have within our grasp. But to tackle the problem of climate change, all of us - foreign ministries, environment ministries, treasuries, departments of defence and all parts of government and societies - must work together to keep global temperatures to 2 degrees. It is only by doing this that we can minimise the huge security risks presented by a future 4 degree world.”

Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary said, “This map shows that the stakes couldn’t be any higher at the Copenhagen talks in December. Britain’s scientists have helped to illustrate the catastrophic effects that will result if the world fails to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees. With less than 50 days left before agreement must be reached, the UK’s going all out to persuade the world of the need to raise its ambitions so we get a deal that protects us from a 4 degree world.”

Professor John Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientist said, “This map developed by the Met Office Hadley Centre, based on the latest climate modelling and peer reviewed science, shows a truly frightening picture of a possible future world in which mankind has failed to act on climate change. It is a world we must do all we can to avoid. A 4degC rise globally would mean temperature rises far higher than 4degC in many countries and regions, with potentially devastating impacts for people across the planet.“

Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice at the Met Office said, “If emissions continue at the current rate the global average temperature are likely to rise by 4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century or even substantially earlier. The science tells us that this will have severe and widespread impacts in all parts of the world, so we need to take action now to reduce emissions to avoid water and food shortages in the future.”

Prof. Chris Rapley CBE, Director of the Science Museum and Professor of Climate Science at University College London said, “The map provides graphic evidence of the dramatic transformation of our world that a 4 degree global temperature rise would trigger. It leaves no doubt of the paramount importance of a successful outcome of the Copenhagen negotiations.”

Press release provided by the Department of The Environment And Climate Change.

Energy Stakeholder Conference 2009
January 29 2010, Time 10:00 to 15:30
Haydock Park Racecourse, Merseyside

Envirolink Northwest’s energy programme is planning for the next three years and now seeks to further engage the North West’s key energy and energy efficiency stakeholders to develop a programme of mutual benefit across the region. A major event in the Envirolink Northwest calendar, the day aims to bring together businesses, local authorities, academic institutions and a number of key support organisations. Join us to learn more about Envirolink Northwest and the energy programme, to help define what you would like to see from the programme and to help celebrate past successes.

Book online here

Need Help with Renewables? Are you a North West business thinking about the potential
Date: November 17 2009 to November 19 2009
Tuesday 17th November 2009 - Rheged Centre, Penrith
Thursday 19th November 2009 - Halliwell jones Stadium, Warrington

The opportunities for generating your own energy from wind, waste or with micro-renewables in the North West are significant.

Envirolink Northwest can offer individual, tailored support to help you.

More information and booking here

As part of the NWDA and ERDF funded North West Eco-Innovation Programme, SMEs in the North West of England are sought for graduate consultancy placements. The current placements are for Geography MSc dissertation projects starting Easter 2010 and lasting approximately six months. Two generic types of project can be undertaken:

1. Projects which involve the administration of social surveys to investigate competing issues. For instance, a company may be looking to develop a new eco-innovative product or service, which could cause social, economic, or environmental conflict. A student could conduct questionnaire surveys and interviews and carry out an analysis to determine the nature of, and reasons for, the conflict. This could assist the company in further development of the service/product.

2. Projects involving the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to map development scenarios. For example, this could involve overlay analysis to identify suitable locations for the development of new initiative, or network analysis could be carried out to assist in improving the efficiency of a company’s transportation logistics.

The cost of the time for the consultant is met by the NWDA and ERDF funding, although travelling expenses may have to be covered by the company.

For more information on the programme see:

http://www.ctechinnovation.com/innovation-management/eco-innovation.html

and for more information on the LEC graduate consultancy programme:

http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/masters.php

If you think you have a project that would benefit from such a placement please contact me at cath.roberts@ctechinnovation.com