The famous cruise ship the Queen Elizabeth 2 was in town on Friday. Berthed at the new cruise liner terminal by the Princes Dock, the ship was here as part of her penultimate around Britain cruise. She’s 40 now and is being decommissioned (or whatever happens to cruise ships) after her next few jaunts.

Crowds of people (and their dogs) came along to have a gawp, Liverpool Chamber staff included. You can take a look at the pics we took over on our Flickr page.

She was certainly a majestic site, even if she is reaching middle age.

There’s even more reason to look forward to Friday thanks to LiveOne20’s fantastic discounts at Liverpool’s Radisson Hotel.

The perfect Friday evening/Saturday morning package is available at a discount that will make it a weekly habit.

Cardholders can take advantage of a room at the prestigious hotel for only £99 on Friday evenings, a saving of £50, providing the perfect way to wind down after a busy week.

As well as the room discount, the hotel’s Filini restaurant is offering LiveOne20 members a two-for one deal on Friday evenings. Widely considered to be one of the best in the city, the award-winning Filini has just unveiled its lavish new look and a selection of modern Italian cuisine to tantalise the most discerning of taste-buds.

The worries of the week can finally be put to rest on the Saturday morning, as residents of the hotel can then enjoy a relaxing and enhancing de-tox session at the Ark Health & Fitness Club, adjacent to the hotel.

The Radisson package is one of the many sensational deals available this week for owners of Liverpool’s first lifestyle smart card, LiveOne20.

Cardholders can save more than £800 a year with some of the city’s premier names in retail, leisure, health and beauty thanks to LiveOne20.

To find out more, visit www.liveone20.com or call Livesmart’s account manager Sam Hart on 0870 055 3472 or by e-mail at liveone20@livesmart.biz.

From 1 October 2007 the National Minimum Wage will increase again as follows.

Adult rate (workers aged 22 and over) will increase to £5.52

Development rate for 18-21 year olds will increase to £4.60

Development rate for 16-17 year olds will increase to £3.40

The rate for the accommodation offset will increase to £30.10 per week (£4.30 per day)

To check on how the National Minimum Wage applies to you (or your staff),  telephone the National Minimum Wage Helpline on 0845 6000 678.

Liverpool Chamber members can also get free specific advice on any HR topic at www.chamberhr.co.uk.  Give the Membership team a call on 0151 227 1234 if you have forgotten your ChamberHR username and password.

Merchant Taylors’ Senior Girls’ School are having an Open Morning on Saturday 6th October.

Times: 9:00am-12:00noon

www.merchanttaylors.com

0151 949 9333

The Best Education For Life

Senior Boys | Senior Girls | Junior Boys |

Stanfield Mixed Infants & Junior Girls

Certificate In Internal Workplace Mediation

Open Access Training Course at Acas Liverpool

Dates: 5 day course running on 9, 10, 17, 18 & 19 October

Venue: The Matchworks, Speke Road, Liverpool L19 2BW

Cost: £1995

The Certificate in Internal Workplace Mediation is an OCR accredited qualification. It aims to give participants the opportunity to gain knowledge and practical skills to enable them to operate effectively as mediators in their own organisations.

The certificate is awarded to candidates who have successfully demonstrated their knowledge, understanding and skills of workplace conflict, mediation and managing the mediation process. Broadly, the award is equivalent to Level 3 NVQ. Assessment of candidate’s knowledge - via a written portfolio, will be carried out by Acas assessors with external verification by OCR.

The Certificate certifies that the holder is competent to mediate in the organisation for which s/he works.

Course duration/time:

The course consists of 5 units and will take place over 5 days. These may not be consecutive. The units are:

• Unit 1: Understanding Conflict and Mediation In the Workplace
• Unit 2: Introducing the Parties to Mediation
• Unit 3: Moving Through the Mediation Process
• Unit 4: Skills and Strategies for Managing the Mediation Process
• Unit 5: Practising Mediation Skills

To book a place/s on this training programme please contact Karen Walker, Events Co-ordinator, Acas North West on: 0161 833 8570 or e-mail: kwalker@acas.org.uk. For further information about the CIWM, please contact Damian Warburton lead tutor, on: 0151 728 5620, or e-mail: dwarburton@acas.org.uk

This weeks Chamber HR news looks at age discrimination and the fact that it’s not just the older members of society who can face it.

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 came into effect on 1st October 2006.

Regulations cover employers and employees, but extend far beyond to cover people in training, professional bodies, trade unions, office holders like directors, clergy, and many more - it’s not just for big companies.

Most people think of age discrimination in terms of discrimination against older people. It can apply where younger people are discriminated against. So, employers must be wary of framing advertisements which put off younger people as well as avoiding job advertisements which specify upper age limits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Liverpool Vision, in partnership with Glow Media, have put together a fun little website that lets you (yes you!) muck about with Liverpool’s world-famous skyline.

My Liverpool Skyline allows visitors to superimpose nine of the world’s most iconic buildings and landmarks on to the waterfront to create their own individual view of the city.

The current list of world buildings that can be placed on the city’s skyline is:

.    Taj Mahal, Agra, India
.    Sydney Opera House
.    Eiffel Tower, Paris
.    Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
.    Swiss Re ‘Gherkin’, London
.    London Eye
.    CN Tower, Toronto, Canada
.    Empire State Building, New York
.    Statue of Liberty, New York

All it needs is Godzilla and some flying saucers now!

Liverpool Chamber and New Heys Business & Enterprise College have been chosen to form a ‘Young Chamber’ - one of only 50 Young Chambers to be formed in the UK as part of a national pilot project.

The Specialist Schools Trust has accredited New Heys to deliver this exciting project in conjunction with the British Chambers of Commerce.

So what is a Young Chamber?
It is a framework to provide young people aged 11-19 with functional basic skills for entering the world of work via interaction with the business community. It will be managed by the students, guided by local businesses and facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce.

All students at New Heys can be a part of Young Chamber, with a Young Chamber council at the heart of the activities who will communicate messages out to fellow students. The range of activities/projects really does depend on what the students want to do - that’s why its so exciting as the project’s future is in their hands!

The Chamber is committed to promoting enterprise in Liverpool schools and Young Chamber is the ideal vehicle for Members to engage with today’s young people and influence YOUR future workforce.

Whether it is setting business challenge simulations, providing guidance to students forming their own in-school businesses, attending Industry Days or setting tasks designed to develop a ’student voice’ on key business issues - Chamber members can now interact with today’s young people like never before!

And don’t forget, they’ll want your help with their issues too!

It’s a win-win.

Young Chamber - Developing Minds for Developing Business.

Contact the Young Chamber coordinator Paul Cherpeau on 0151 227 1234 or email youngchamber@liverpoolchamber.org.uk for more information and to get involved.

It’s probably going to be a rainy lunchtime today. So instead getting soaked for no good reason, stay in and play Boomshine.

The object of the game is to detonate your ball in the field of other little balls and set off a chain reaction. Each level requires you to detonate more and more of the pesky orbs.

Despite its pastel colours and slightly annoying music, it’s quite addictive. And by using the word ‘detonate’ in its description, I’ve hopefully given it a macho twist. Think of them as depth charges and it’s like an online version of ‘Das Boot’.

Play Boomshine here.