‘Two remarkable plays, two unique venues and one cast of exhausted actors. . .’

The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival is delighted to officially announce that after an exhaustive search, the role of Hamlet will be played by Liverpool’s Stephen Fletcher in its forthcoming productions of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Director Max Rubin: ‘Stephen is a rising star and has done so much, so quickly, showing amazing versatility over the last couple of years. Somehow, he shines in musicals, naturalism and classical roles alike; but Hamlet is the greatest test for any actor demanding tremendous endurance, skill and invention. If I know Stephen, he’s going to give us the performance of his life.’

The entire cast of 14 will have to be on top-form as they will be rehearsing during the day and performing at night for much of the run. On selected days, they have to do them both back-to-back!

Other well-known faces in the cast are Ruth Alexander as Gertrude who played Lady Macbeth in the 2007 festival and who is best known as Lisa Dalton from ITV’s Coronation St.

Richard Kelly will play Guildenstern. He has had a spectacular year, filming the lead role in the forthcoming major British feature film ‘Land Gold Women.’

INFO:

Hamlet from 11th to 23rd August at St George’s Hall

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead from 1st to 13th September at Novas CUC

Tickets from the bluecoat call 0151 7025324 or visit www.thebluecoat.org.uk

Or follow the link from the website www.theliverpoolshakespearefestival.co.uk

Or from their lively blog, where you can follow the project, chat, comment,
Hear rehearsal tapes or get involved http://tlsf.blogspot.com. The blog also links through to lodestar pages at twitter, facebook etc

The Festival is also offering Chamber members a preferential rate on advertising space in our programme.

The events have a potential audience of 12,000 people, three quarters of whom live in Liverpool.  The programme will be A5 format and printed on high quality glossy paper and Chamber members are being offered a rate of 150 GBP for a half page ad.

Email the Lodestar Theatre Company if you are interested

Read the rest of this entry »

Pioneering Social Enterprise elect helps people to access jobs in Merseyside or start their own business.

elect has started over 700 businesses in Merseyside and helped hundreds of people facing the challenges of social exclusion and economic hardship to secure employment.

This has the dual benefit of enhancing the opportunities and earning potential of individuals, families and communities.

elect deliver a wide range of programmes which, above all, focus on people.  Clients receive tailored advice, support and opportunities in order to achieve a better future. The support given recognises people’s circumstances, addressing the barriers that they face.

elect’s recently launched initiative elect2work provides a comprehensive package of services and support to  local businesses and individuals that help people to gain the technical skills required to start or grow a business, or alternatively secure sustainable employment.

FREE Business Support

• Business Advice & Coaching
• Market Research
• Financial Planning
• Grants and Loans Advice
• Specialist Referral
• Aftercare Support

Call NOW on 0151 230 0300 or email info@elect.org.uk

FREE Recruitment Support

• CV Sifting
• Managing Recruitment
• Job Matching
• High Calibre Candidates
• Job Specific Training
• Aftercare Support

Call NOW on 0151 263 9554 or email elect2work@elect.org.uk

elect, real jobs, real business, real people!
Elect, 49 Ruscombe Road, Dovecot, Liverpool, L14 4AU,
Tel 0151 230 0300
fax/minicom 0151 264 0908, email info@elect.org.uk

The Government projects that new cases could top 100,000 per day by August 2009. The disruption to local businesses could be quite discerning.

Employers need to focus on the following three areas when preparing for pandemic flu:

• Their duty to protect the health and safety of their employees;
• Dealing with high staff absence – employee sickness, people choosing to stay at home through fear, employees looking after sick children or relatives, and malingerers.
• Possible suspension of “normal working practices” and the impact of this may have on the contracts of employment.

Reverting back to the five key considerations, how can your business fulfil these requirements?

1. Prominently display notices in the workplace encouraging employees to wash hands and use tissues. It can also be as simple as ensuring soap and tissues are kept in lavatories.

2. Circulate memorandums to notify employees of the symptoms of swine flu, and provide the National Pandemic Flu Service Hotline number.

3. Consideration will need to be given to suspending the “normal practices” around return to work, sick pay and dependant leave.

While a company sickness policy may require an employee to return to work as soon as they are feeling well enough, the person suffering from pandemic flu should not return to work until certified by a doctor.

In considering whether such leave should be paid or unpaid, your discretion will come into play and whenever this discretion is exercised, you need to be mindful of favouring one employee over another, which could potentially expose your business to a claim of discrimination or breach of trust of confidence in the contract of employment.

Your business may end up having to be more generous about giving time off to employees caring for dependants than they would otherwise be.  If dependants become very seriously ill and care arrangements are hard to come by as a result of the pandemic, it would be unrealistic for employers to expect people to take the minimum entitlements.

Concerns about malingerers may also need to give way to the overriding need to prevent the spread of the disease.  If, however, you have evidence to suggest that an employee is abusing the position to their advantage and remaining off whilst not genuinely ill, then you may need to consider the disciplinary procedure against that employee.

However, we urge you to tread carefully when dealing with this matter. While, the normal course of events may lead to disciplinary action, the importance of enforcing the rules may lessen in comparison to the crisis.

We recommend that you circulate a memo with any specific adaptations to procedures and policies.  Inform staff and consult with any recognised body in the workplace (for example, Trade Unions).

4. It is also possible that healthy people might be told to stay at home to limit the spread of infection. For some employees, home working may be an option, although you should consult with the employee on whether it is viable.

5. It may be worthwhile having a contingency plan for staff and identifying key staff with interchangeable skills within other parts of the business.  However, you should review their contract of employment to ascertain whether you have the right to redeploy, albeit on a temporary basis.

For more information on protecting your business against the impact of swine flu then please contact Mark McKeating of Hill Dickinson LLP on 0151 600 8609.

Swine flu could have serious consequences for small and medium size businesses so ensuring your business is properly prepared is essential.

Ministers have warned that in a worst case scenario, 100,000 people could contract swine flu every day by the end of August, with 1 in 8 employees forced to take time off work. Should these projections come to bear, the sheer number of people affected will undoubtedly have an impact on business productivity and the wider economy.

The British Chambers of Commerce is hosting a live WebTV show on Tuesday 28th July at 11am to discuss the current situation, how businesses should prepare for swine flu and how you should react if it hits your business.

Joining presenter Ian Collins in the studio are Bruce Mann, Head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat at the Cabinet Office and David Frost, the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce. They will also be joined representatives from two businesses – Robert Stead and Sue Hill – who will discuss how their businesses are coping with the crisis.

This is an excellent opportunity to give businesses a chance to share their own contingency plans and ideas they have implemented to deal with the spread of swine flu in the workplace.

To submit a question live to the panel visit www.britishchambers.org.uk on Tuesday 28th July at 11:00-11.30am.

The Legacy Rainbow House is a West Lancashire based charity which specialises in providing services for children with neurological problems and conditions such as cerebral palsy, genetic and metabolic conditions, and acquired brain injuries.  We support children and families from across the North West and beyond, and we now support over 170 children every week.

Our services are based on an holistic approach to rehabilitation known as Conductive Education which aims to teach children life enhancing techniques, through education, recreation and sports, so that they can live more independent lives within the community. 

We are looking for corporate support to help us reach our fundraising target of £1 million this year, so that we can keep our existing services running, and develop our plans for the future.  Our Crisis Appeal launched in April 2009 has brought in considerable support but we need more!

Two major fundraising events coming up soon…

Abseil into Old Trafford

Dare you take the challenge and join us for a unique and spectacular 140ft free air abseil from the North Stand at Old Trafford?  We have a few places still available for this ultimate challenge on Sunday 6 September. Entrance fee is £15 and minimum sponsorship is £125. 

Visit www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com to register.

The Legacy Rainbow House Annual Ball 

A fabulous night out for all and an opportunity to support a fantastic local children’s charity!  This year’s Ball will be held at The Pines Hotel near Chorley on Saturday 21st November.  Tickets are £55 per person or £500 for a table of 10.

Champagne Reception, 3 course meal, live band, DJ, auction & raffle.

We are seeking sponsorship for this high profile North West event as well as auction and raffle prizes.

For more information about The Legacy Rainbow House and these fundraising events, visit www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com, email info@thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com, or call us on 01704 823276.

Be part of this exciting opportunity to research and visit potential business partners in Brazil whilst enhancing the UK chemical industry’s reputation as a provider of reliable technical solutions and competetive products and services.

Get full details and application information in this PDF.

Zeligs bar & restaurant is hosting a night of classic cabaret entertainment on Thursday 30 July.

Don’t miss this great chance to dine, drink and be entertained in one of Liverpool’s most stylish venues.

Hosted by Desmond O’Connor, the evening will feature dazzling performances from dancers, musicians and more ‘offering energy and humour which captures the hearts and souls of an enthralled audience’!

Three-course dinner & show - £35

Standing tickets - £5

Tables from 6pm, show starts 9pm

Tables are limited so call soon.

Call 0151 709 7097 to book or visit the Zeligs website to see the menu.

Chamber member, AIMES Grid Services, has won a three year contract to provide disaster recovery services to North West training and consultancy provider, Sysco Group.

The contract sees AIMES deliver a real time replication and failover service which streams data from Sysco to the AIMES ISO27001 certified data centre facility at Liverpool Innovation Park. If Sysco’s on-site servers fail for any reason, including loss of power, virtual servers within the AIMES data centre automatically take over, ensuring no interruption in service for Sysco’s clients and staff.

As a provider of Government-funded training schemes such as Train to Gain, Sysco is required to maintain and store large amounts of personal data on individuals. Systems availability and data security are therefore key priorities for the business, Ian Smith, managing director at Sysco Group explains:

“Like most firms, the amount of data we store digitally is growing both in terms of volume and importance. Information has become as critical to our business as cash is and so protecting it is no longer just a technical issue, but a business one. The disaster recovery service that we receive from AIMES mitigates the risk of any downtime or data loss, and ensures that we are complying with legal requirements.”

Richard Spragg, technical director at AIMES, said: “Real time data replication and failover is widely regarded as the Rolls Royce of disaster recovery solutions, which is why it’s the choice of so many blue chip companies.

“Traditionally, it’s come with a premium price tag though, which has kept it out of reach of many smaller businesses. Investments in local digital infrastructure are changing the business model for these types of services and making them accessible to local SMEs.”

Ollie and Darsh opened their practice to help people who are involved with the charity Nugent Care.

Thirteen profoundly deaf people attended the event and received free dental check up and free treatment.

The deaf people were delighted to have the opportunity to talk with a dentist and ask questions about their dental health. Many of the group were afraid and anxious about visiting the dentist because they had  had a number of bad experiences with communication difficulties. Imagine if you are deaf and the dentist puts on a mask, you have no idea what the dentist is saying to you because you are unable to see his mouth!

Ollie and Darsh took time to sit and talk with every individual (assisted by a sign language interpreter from Nugent Care), they put the client at ease and explained the procedures and talked about ways to look after teeth and gums.

The deaf people left the practice feeling they had been treated like VIP’s and had received a first class service .

Thank you Ollie and Darsh!

Did you know that substance misuse (drugs and alcohol) is one of the most serious health problems affecting employers today?

The costs are staggering.  British businesses are losing more than £20 billion a year in crime, absenteeism, accidents, lost productivity and related problems. All of this is affecting your bottom line.

Substance misuse training can help you to minimise those losses. Do you know the effects of misusing drugs and alcohol? Would you know where to sign post someone to get help? Do you understand about drugs and the law? Would you know how to approach or challenge an employee whom you think may be abusing drugs or alcohol?

Lighthouse Project are able to offer you answers to all these questions and more through cost effective training from the experts.

Downlad this leaflet for more information [PDF]

For more information on open and in-house cost effective training contact :

Michelle Cartwright – Learning and Development Administrator

or
Dave Yates - Learning and Development Manager, Lighthouse Project.

michelle.cartwright@lighthouseproject.co.uk

dave.yates@lighthouseproject.co.uk

Telephone : 0151 530 2573