Liverpool Life 2:13 250214 by Steve Harrison

Life/News/3

CITY DUBBED ‘PERFECT VENUE’

Paul Dempsey, one of the top BBC executives has called Liverpool the ‘perfect venue’ for the BBC Worldwide Showcase being held at the city’s ECHO Arena and BT Convention Centre this week. The four-day conference, which has been held in Liverpool for the past two years, is the commercial division of the BBC Corporation and this year a record number of 725 TV buyers will attend to buy top-rated programmes for TV stations across the globe. Dempsey told the Liverpool Echo: “We had been in Brighton for 35 years and we had outgrown the venue there so we were looking for somewhere else. And what a great choice this was. I came to University here in 1979 and looking along the waterfront now, the regeneration that has taken place has been fantastic.”Evening events include a spectacular celebration of BBC global brands.

THEATRE SET TO OPEN by Kirsty McColgan

Going to town on job opportunities By Simóne Foggin

Liverpool Town Hall will be holding a jobs, homes and enterprise fair for the people of Merseyside. ‘Living Local, Working Local’ is an event run by The Plus Dane group, and on Friday 27th February. It will ﬁll the hall with business, employment and housing stalls where the general public can access a range of advice and support. Erika Rushton, Neighbourhoods Director of Plus Dane Group told JMU Journalism: “Living Local, Working Local brings together major employers, enterprise agencies and support and advisory services, which between them will be advertising hundreds of job and apprentice opportunities and offering a wide range of support on anything from starting up a business to money management advice, as well as the chance to view vacant Plus Dane homes, available in the Liverpool city region. It’s a great opportunity for anyone looking for a new job or a new home to get a wide range of support all under one roof.” Statistics from Liverpool City Council show that between July 2012 and June 2013, 66% of people in Merseyside were in employment, almost 4% lower

than Great Britain’s national total of 70%. Many employers have already signed up to take part in the event, whereby hundreds of job opportunities will be available. Mike Mercer from Liverpool In Work has advised attendees to have their “CV prepared and available! Be positive, talk to people on the stalls and take as much information away with you as you can.” For Merseyside’s entrepreneurs the day will also provide an ‘Enterprise Hub’ where organisations will be on hand to offer support for those considering self-employment, planning to start a business or those who need advice on how to expand their existing business. The day will also feature the viewing of houses that are currently available to rent or buy. Cllr Nick Small told JMU Journalism: “Housing and employment are often linked, as insecure housing can be a barrier to getting and staying in a job. It’s also right – with the introduction of the bedroom tax – that we should be helping affected tenants to get into work and progress in work as they’ll be better off. That’s why I welcome the Homes and Jobs Fair Plus Dane has organised and pleased to support it.”

Liverpool Town Hall which is set to hold the employment fair

Photo: Ida Husoy

Business as usual for Liverpool & Anderson Continued from page 1.

erpool Joe Anderson and IFB Chairman Max Steinberg CBE. James Gower added: “It is good for local businesses in three main areas. It is good for taxi drivers, restaurants and hotel owners as they will be full over the six weeks but it is also good for entrepreneurs and business owners to engage and participate. It also gives the chance for businesses to sponsor the festival for advertisers and awareness.” Dominique Aspey, of JMU centre of entrepreneurship said: “The International Festival for Business builds on the success of 2012’s Global Entrepreneurship Congress as it brings another major event to Liverpool. LJMU is supporting the IFB with a number of fringe events and we are encouraging our networks to get involved with the event - particularly new and growing businesses - as this is their moment in the internation-

al spotlight and a real opportunity to build relationships with new customers and partners.” Businesses and entrepreneurs can register for a free membership of the IFB club to experience business opportunities, services, facilities and support. Former Tesco Chief Executive said earlier today that Liverpool was still lacking in entrepreneurial ambition and needed more people who are prepared to take a risk and set up small businesses. In response, Dominique Aspey said: “Liverpool has a long-standing history of entrepreneurship with many wellknown success stories. Could more be done? Always. But that opinion could be applied to any major city outside London – from where I stand, I see nothing but a hunger for business start-up and a desire to succeed and with support available in so many places.”

Liverpool’s new £28million Everyman theatre is due to open its doors to the public this weekend, for the ﬁrst time in three years. The Everyman theatre closed in 2011 to be raised and then rebuilt on the same plot of land, having been expanded. The old seats of the theatre have been replaced with cinematic seating, lined with velvet as well as 25,000 bricks from the original theatre, which have been saved and reused in the new building. As well as saving the bricks, a number of lamps, have been recovered and are also being used in the new theatre. The new Everyman springs to life with Shakespeare’s tale of love, loss and transformation “Twelfth night.” The cast includes Matthew Kelly and Nick Woodeson, stars of the Everyman ‘class of 74’ as well as a number of Liverpool’s own like Alan Stocks, Neil Caple and Pauling Daniels, who will be the ﬁrst to take full advantage of the new facilities including the new and improved greenroom and dressing rooms.

Let there be light! Festival returns

One of the UK’s leading Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and Mouth Cancer Foundation Ambassador, Mahesh Kumar, is planning a life-saving presentation to delegates across the UK, including Liverpool, at the Dentistry Show in Birmingham in March. Mr Kumar will talk about mouth cancer which continues to be one of the top ten commonly diagnosed cancers affecting nearly 8000 people in the UK every year. It has a worst ratio of deaths to cases compared with skin, cervical, breast and prostate cancer and can occur in any part of the mouth like throat and salivary glands and head and neck area.

Some of Liverpool’s biggest cultural attractions are set to open their doors late into the night for one time only as part of the city’s ﬁfth annual Light Night festival in May. The event is run by Open Culture, a small social enterprise, which promotes arts and culture in Liverpool. Light Night festival has grown in size every year and this year they’re hoping for their best audience yet. They are in the ﬁnal stages of building the programme for the festival but it will feature interactive street performances, light shows, heritage trails, specialist exhibitions and live music amongst many other things. Billed as being 4pm till late the festival is looking to get as many people as possible to come see what the city has to offer. Charlotte Corrie from Open

CANCER CURE TALK

Mayor Joe Anderson will be speaking at the festival

by Joshua Weale

Culture told Liverpool Life: “Late is as late as anyone wants it to be, it’s different in many people’s lives. It can be very family friendly or a culturally orientated night out, or even a very-very late night out. We just want it to be open and accessible to all and everyone for them to come out and have fun.” So far a lot of the major venues have conﬁrmed they will be putting on events including the Walker Arts Gallery, St George’s Hall, Museum of Liverpool, Tate Liverpool, Open Eye and the Bluecoat. Several other smaller venues will also be offering up stuff to take part in and come view including Area Studio and galleries, as well as Bold Street book shop, News from Nowhere. Not everything will start at 4pm but there will always be something on offer. Charlotte added: “It’s a chance to have a bit of a different feel on your Friday night.”

James Gower from Liverpool Vision said: “The events are very broad. There are the World Corporate Games which is very like the business Olympics, cultural programmes, and lots of government events.” The festival is also aiming to inspire 500 businesses to get started across Merseyside in a new campaign called Spark Up. It will give new business owners the chance to attend a boot-camp style programme of master classes. The event features an all-star panel made up of IFB ambassadors, including CBI Director General John Cridland CBE, Betfair co-founder Ed Wray and Angel Investor Dale Murray CBE, as well as UKTI Chief Executive Crispin Simon, London Stock Exchange Chief Executive Xavier Rolet, Mayor of Liv-

Anglican cathedral lit up at last year’s festival

Life |News |4

Bid to block ‘lad’ culture on campus

By Joshua Weale

Lad culture is on the rise in universities across the country as new research shows that half of responding students have encountered some form of ‘laddish behaviour’ passed off as just ‘banter’. According to the National Union of Students lad culture involves, sports, heavy alcohol consumption, sexism and misogyny, homophobia, sexualisation and objectiﬁcation of women, rape supportive attitudes and sexual harassment. Campuses are beginning to see more and more groups of males take part in this behaviour as they try to one-up each other as they attempt to prove who is the ‘biggest lad’ . However whilst this is going on they don’t think about the consequences on the people around them. NUS has carried out a survey and found that half of the students that responded from around the country have been involved or subjected to lad culture. Worried that the rise in this behaviour around universities is becoming a big problem they held a summit on Friday to discuss the best way to tackle the problem. Issues discussed at the sum-

mit included outlining how lad Culture has inﬁltrated the University social lifestyle and how things which could be seen as a bit of fun ‘banter’ can actually be extremely hurtful. Dan Cole Vice-President for community engagement at Liverpool SU spoke to Liverpool Life about the issue. “I think all students who come to university should be made to feel welcome, and a part of their course, university, and even a part of the city itself. In university, we try to ensure that we provide a safe space for students to come to university, and we take any issues where students are made to feel uncomfortable or are discriminated against seriously.” Liverpool’s student union will be taking part in an event on Friday the 28th March called ‘reclaim the night’ which will be the launch of a campaign looking to tackle violence against Women and general harassment. Dan added: “Speciﬁcally on the topic of lad culture, this is an issue that our Feminist Society wants to tackle. The head of the society attended the recent NUS women’s event were ‘lad culture’ was a main topic discussed, and I know this is something they will be working on. I feel it is important

Fundraisers turn to safari walk for Alder Hey By Damian Leonard A safari walk fundraiser has been launched to raise money for Alder Hey Hospital. Taking place on May 18th the fundraiser has been organised by young ambassador Luke Chapman. He wants people to walk, rather than drive, around Knowsley Safari Park, in the sponsored event. Luke was born with a very complex set of heart defects and has faced a lifetime of serious open heart surgeries at Alder Hey Hospital. He has been visiting the hospital since he was a baby and is a well-known face on the hospital’s K2 ward. He is hoping that as many families as possible join him on this 3km walk of the famous wildlife park. Luke will be walking with his Mum Kelly, Dad, Kurt and little sister, Lottie. Luke said: “I’m really excited to be able to walk around Know-

sley Safari Park and see all the animals. Please come along and help raise money for Alder Hey.” Alder Hey Children’s Charity is aiming to raise £30m to fund lifesaving equipment, vital research and arts and play activities in their new hospital, Alder Hey in the Park. Rebecca Poole, Alder Hey Media Relations Specialist, said: “The event has been organised by Alder Hey Children’s Charity and the Knowsley Estate. In his role as a young ambassador for the charity, Luke is helping to encourage people to take part.” Helen Hughes from Alder Hey Children’s Charity said: “The Safari walk is the perfect event for all ages to get involved and support Alder Hey. We are incredibly grateful to have the support of the Knowsley estate and Bugaboo as we continue in our aim to raise as much money as possible.” Anyone who raises over £50 in sponsorship will be given a free safari pass for the day of the walk.

to tackle, and fully support events such as the upcoming ‘Reclaim the Night and the event after the rally will be held in our student union.” Some of the more extreme cases of lad culture in recent times have seen male students singing “misogynistic, racist and offensive” chants on a bus in Stirling. As well as a circulated email encouraging students in Oxford to “spike a female fresher’s drink” and a student club night in Leeds released a promotional video that encouraged students to “rape a fresher”. The culture has become more and more popular with the increase in social media, with Facebook groups such as “Uni Lad” and “spotted” are pages designed to give people platforms to show off their ‘Laddishness’. It also seems that this culture is not just seen in groups of men, some females are actively joining in with some ‘banter’ around campuses. Another worry is that themed nights for fresher’s at university actually promotes this culture, for example well known events promoter Carnage, often hold nights with themes that ﬂaunt these views. NUS have announced that they are launching a committee that will develop ob-

NEW BAR GETS GREEN LIGHT

A new bar has been given the go-ahead for Liverpool, despite previous objections from the Police and Trading Standards Ofﬁcers. The BrewDog bar is set to open along Colquitt Street, not far from Mersey hot-spot Alma De Cuba and has had a licence granted to sell the strongest beer in the country. The street falls within a zone already designated as a ‘Cumulative Impact Policy’ (CIP) area because of high levels of late night disorder. But at a licensing meeting held today, BrewDog successfully argued its bar would have a positive rather than negative impact.

COUNCIL TAX FREEZE Liverpool Students Union Vice-President Dan Cole Picture: ©Twitter/@LSU_VPC jectives to tackle lad culture as part of a national strategy. President of NUS closed the summit by saying: “We need to face these issues head on. Lad

culture can make people feel that they can’t speak up, and as though you don’t belong on campus if you don’t abide by the culture. We all need to come together to tackle it.”

Wirral councillors are expected to back plans tonight to freeze the boroughs council tax for the coming year. Earlier this month the council’s ruling cabinet approved plans to maintain council tax levels both this year and in 2015-16.

Whacky wheelbarrow challenge By Joshua Weale A group of friends from Liverpool are set to take on a whacky wheelbarrow challenge as they aim to raise as much money as possible for the Anthony Nolan Foundation. They are planning on taking it in turns to push each other in a wheelbarrow from the Etihad stadium in Manchester to Liverpool’s Anﬁeld stadium before the match between the two teams on the 12th April. The reason for the challenge is to say thank you to the Anthony Nolan Foundation for their great work in supporting Leukaemia sufferers. Robbie Fearns one of the co-founders of the idea decided to take on the challenge after his eight-year-old son Charlie was diagnosed with Leukaemia ﬁve years ago. His son beat the condition once but relapsed in 2012, however thanks to the help of the Anthony Nolan Foundation and Leukaemia Research UK, they managed to secure a bone mar-

Andy Coles far left Picture: ©Facebook/Andy Coles row transplant for Charlie and he is now better than ever. The story of Charlie’s recovery brought the 16 friends together who all work at Jaguar Landrover in Halewood. Some of the team have completed massive charity challenges in the past including various treks and mountain climbs. Although some have cycled the length of Vietnam and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, they have never quite done anything like this wheelbarrow relay before.

Andy Coles is the other co-founder of the challenge. He came up with the wheelbarrow idea inspired by his experience when he took part in The Great North Run. Whilst there he saw a man called ‘Tony the Fridge’ who runs marathons with a fridge tied to his back. Andy told Liverpool Life: “He was getting a massive ovation and even getting more attention than Olympian Mo Farah on the day. That was when something clicked in my head

and that’s when I thought we need to do something a bit different and I just said to Robbie what about something stupid like a wheelbarrow race. “Robbie then came up with the phrase ‘Barrow for Marrow’ and it just stuck.” Since then the guys have been on an intense publicity trail trying to drum up as much attention as possible for their efforts, whilst raising money for the Anthony Nolan Foundation. At ﬁrst they didn’t know exactly where to do it or when but when LFC and Manchester City both showed their support for the campaign it seemed obvious to do it between the two grounds. Andy added: “This is an amazing opportunity for us to do something a little bit different and give something back and it’s a challenge we’re all really looking forward to taking on. “We think it’s going to take us about 12 hours to complete it and we really just want to get as much support as possible for the foundation.”

World cancer ﬁrst for Wirral By Jess Watters

A Merseyside man has become the ﬁrst patient in the world to be chosen to be treated for pancreatic cancer. Experts at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Wirral have been leading the UK wide project to create a vaccine that includes a combination of immunotherapy with the treatments that Clatterbridge already have in place and aims to prevent the reoccurrence of the disease. Maggie Blanks, Chief Executive of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund said: “The very fact the trial is underway is exciting. To have got to the clinical trials stage there would have been quite a period before that of laboratory testing other kinds of testing to prove the principle that there

was something in this approach.” Most people who get pancreatic cancer die within four years of diagnosis. Around 8,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year, starting when a tumour develops in the Pancreas. Alan Hellier, 64, from Seaforth, who has ﬁve children and seven grandchildren, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last October. He said “It was a real shock when I was diagnosed. When they tell you that you have cancer you think, ‘oh blimey I’m dead.’ It was really worrying but I just had it done.” Allan’s tumour was removed on Christmas Eve and he has taken the vaccine since to prevent the tumour coming back. He went on to say: “I felt like the vaccine was more of insurance

for me to have two treatments rather than one. . I am hopeful that it will help the future patients and they will get some results from me whether it works or it doesn’t. Mrs Blanks also said: “Where there is progress being made, it seems to be in combination of treatments of pancreatic cancer because one of the problems with pancreatic cancer is that it is a very aggressive type of cancer and quickly develops resistance to the traditional chemotherapy treatments that can work well for other cancers. What researchers are ﬁnding now is that combinations seem to look more promising in terms of being more effective. The immunotherapy aspect of this research is a promising area of research. The obstacles being approached for pancreatic

Picture: ©Flickr/ tschoppi cancer are being overcome now.” When cancer of the pancreas ﬁrst develops, it rarely causes symptoms. The most common early symptoms are pain in the upper abdomen, weight loss, diabetes, nausea and vomiting, fever and shivering and jaundice which can include the yellowing of the skin, dark urine and itchy skin.

Life|News|5

LJMU helps to keep WWI memories alive By Lauren Cordelle, Damian Leonard and Claire Reid

An online archive has been set up by LJMU in Liverpool Central Library to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the start of World War 1. The ‘Merseyside at War 1914-1918’ project gives Merseyside residents the ability to upload their memories and memorabilia, telling their stories and that of their families, to show visitors how the war affected the local community. Acting great, and former Doctor Who, Paul McGann, has joined in on the project and has uploaded his own family’s WW1 stories, demonstrating how people can upload anything from letters and diaries to birth and death certiﬁcates. With the world’s last surviving service member of WW1, veteran Florence Green, having died in 2012, it’s now up to the family members to keep the memories alive.

SHIP SET TO DOCK By Lucy Bannister

Paul said: “Now that the eyewitnesses are gone and the last service people have died, it’s gone from living memory. It’s vitally important to understand the social history. Everybody was touched by it, it’s important because these are our stories.

I’m here today because these men survived, sometimes by the skin of their teeth. These are your people and these are your stories. You can become part of building up a living history.” Professor Frank McDonough, who is leading the project with

Picture: Ida Husøy colleagues Dr Mike BenboughJackson and Dr Emma Vickers, believes that history can teach us valuable lessons on the prevention of war. He says: “World War One is a conﬂict that is really worth revisiting. It teaches us lessons

By Will Shaw

on how war can be prevented because nobody thought it would break out and although it grew out of animosities that had gone on for 20 years, it wasn’t certain or inevitable.” Dr Benbough-Jackson said: “The project is an opportunity to collect family, community, local and regional histories about the First World War and its impact on Merseyside. This is a long-term project that will stretch beyond 2018. As the material comes in, people will be able to ‘connect the dots’ and see how the experiences of individuals, families, social groups and communities were shaped by the war.” The online archives are not solely for relatives of those who have fought in the war. Dr Jackson added: “We are not only looking for details about those who served in the armed forces. We also welcome any information about those who worked on the home front, opposed the war, or were interned as ‘enemy aliens’.”

Murky waters in Merseyside By Joshua Weale Residents were left surprised on Sunday night as they found their water supply had been contaminated. The cotamination caused residents to be left with brown dirty water coming from their taps. The problem happened on Sunday night at 6pm and lasted until 6am the next morning. Although the water supply is now back to normal, a large area of Liverpool was affected by the issue. Areas that experienced the most severe problems were Aintree, Crosby, Croxteth, Fazakerley, Norris Green, Kirkdale, West Derby and Kirby, whilst other postcodes suffered minor discoloration. It has not yet been conﬁrmed what caused the murky water but it is believed that a burst water main was to blame. United Utilities are investigating the incident. Mark Donaghy, a spokesman for the company told Liverpool Life: “We’re really sorry to customers in North Liverpool for some temporary problems

with their water supplies yesterday. The unexpected disturbance of a naturally occurring sediment in one of our trunk mains caused discolouration, which although unlikely to be harmful, was unpleasant for people. Our engineers and water quality officers worked late into the night to resolve the issue.” Residents were left questioning when their water would return to a normal colour. John Lee a resident of Croxteth told Liverpool Life: “I didn’t actually realise at first I drank about 10 coffees before I’d even realised, so I was worried that it might not be too healthy. “The water looks fine now though and I’m not dead after drinking it so that’s a bonus.” Disgruntled Liverpool residents who experienced the dirty water took to Twitter to express their concern at not being able to make themselves a hot drink. Paul Johns of Crosby tweeted: “Why’s everyone’s tap water brown? Hahaha can’t even make a brew now.” Whilst Emma Louise from West Derby tweeted: “Want a

©Twitter/Laylaacatherine

The MS Britannia is set to dock in Liverpool on its maiden round next year. It is the largest ship to be produced by P&O Cruises and is currently under construction in Italy. The cruise liner will feature a 94 metre Union Jack flag, the longest version of the flag of anywhere in the world. It aims to honour Britain as well as pay tribute to other ships that have also held the Britannia title. The first Britannia ship for P&O Cruises set sail in 1835 and the second in 1887 in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee- and P&O itself. The ship will be 1,082ft long and weigh 141,000 gross ton with a capacity of 3,647 passengersthe largest of any P&O cruise ship. The ship will include 13 bars and 13 eateries, along with four swimming pools and a library. MS Britannia will be leaving Southampton on 6th July 2015 and will be welcomed into Liverpool on the 15th July.

Paul McGann with family war picture

Sefton Council remembers its VC heroes

DIRTY: Water from a tap in Croxteth cup of tea but the water is still brown, absolutely fuming, this better be sorted by tomorrow!”

If you were affected by the problems contact us on Twitter at @LivLifeNews.

Is this really Liverpool? By Lewis Bell

A trailer for a new ‘reality’ show called This Is Liverpool has gone viral and claimed nearly 180,000 views in 24 hours, dividing opinion about its portrayal of life in the city. Phenomenal Pictures, a company set up speciﬁcally to make a series chronicling the lives of ‘real Scousers’ have promised it will depict ‘real people, living their lives’ in ‘proper Liverpool’. The trailer was almost instantly met with ﬁerce opposition, with people around the city fearing that the scripted reality show would reinforce old stereotypes. Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said in an interview: “I wasn’t impressed at all with what I’ve seen and I think people are absolutely right, it

does rely on old stereotypes about Liverpool. “I don’t think there are any Oscars going to be given for it and I think it’s one of those things to be laughed at rather than taken seriously. Maybe it should be on the Comedy Channel!” Many people took to the Facebook page of the Liverpool Echo to denounce the trailer. Laura Naylor said: “Horrible. Meaningless, cultureless, vacuous, aggressive, tasteless. Who’s letting this out when we’re doing so well? The city’s going to be bigger than ever this year with huge cultural events and status as one of the best cities in the world to visit.” There were also a number of Facebook groups and Twitter accounts set up in protest to the show. ‘This Is Actual Liverpool’

and ‘This Is Not Liverpool’ were quickly created and within minutes the people of Liverpool were making their opinions heard. @lukebrown1708 tweeted: “Well, ‘This Is Liverpool’ looks…s**t.” However not everyone was against the TV show. @forgettheswan tweeted: “The amount of people going mad over This Is Liverpool is mental. What’s the massive issue with it?” And @katiemaycannon tweeted: “Sure I’m the only one looking forward to This Is Liverpool.” This Is Liverpool will be the city’s second effort at ‘reality’ T.V following on from E4’s failed attempt Desperate Scousewives which failed to gather any momentum or support.

Five former Sefton residents who received the Victoria Cross in the First World War will be remembered with the paving stones laid in their honour. Arthur Procter, Arthur Evans, Alexander Lafone, Richard Masters and Harold Ackroyd will be commemorated as part of a national Government programme that will acknowledge all VC recipients from The Great War. Cllr Peter Dowd, Leader of Sefton Council, said: “So many men from across the borough fought in the Great War and a number of events will be taking place across Sefton to remember their sacriﬁces. “By also celebrating the VC recipients with special commemorative stones, we are very keen to try and get in touch with any family members to share such an occasion with them.We’d love to hear from you.”

SALES TIME FOR TV

Liverpool Echo Arena has welcomed a worldwide TV showcase with open arms. TV buyers from across the world arrived in Liverpool on Sunday for the BBC Worldwide Showcase. Now in its 38th year, this is the third time it has been held in Liverpool. Paul Dempsey, President of Global markets said: “We had been in Brighton for 35 years and we had out grown the venue there so we were looking for somewhere else. And what a great choice this was”. A record number of 725 delegates were set to attend the conference, and mingling with countless talented people such as Graham Norton and Tom Hollander. Evening events include a spectacular celebration of BBC Worldwide’s global brands such as Top Gear, BBC Earth, Doctor Who, Sherlock and Dancing with the Stars presented by Graham Norton.

NEW RUN ROUTE

A new 5k running route in Princes Park has been opened. It is part of the Run England initiative and aims to highlight local features such as the lake, the tennis courts and play parks. Cyclists are also welcome to use the track. The programme has received support from the Royal Liverpool Hospital and Liverpool City Council’s Public Health and Outdoor Recreation teams.

FASHION APPEAL

LJMU students from the BA Event Management and Fashion Design courses combined their collective skills to raise over £300 in a charity fashion show at Liverpool’s Newz Bar. The event, which raised funds for the mental health charity CALM, saw students put their designs on display and organise and promote the event.

Life|Arts|7

Seventh year for Sound City festival

Harriet Midgley previews the jewel of Liverpool’s festival crown

iverpool Sound City returns this year for three days of big names, rising stars and unsigned acts. Festival organisers have stayed true to their ethos and unveiled a line up brimming with ground breaking new talent. The newest, most exciting bands from across the country will be performing in multiple venues and spaces across Liverpool from the 1st3rd of May. This year will be the seventh year Liverpool has hosted the festival and in total around 400 bands will play to 25,000 people across 30 venues. There will be a unique selection of late-night sessions, label showcases and parties across Liverpool for spectators to enjoy. Headliners include electronica musician Jon Hopkins, Strokes’ guitarist Albert Hammond Jnr, New York rapper Action Bronson and Doves front man Jimi Goodwin. Local indie-pop band ‘Circa Waves’, who have been hotlytipped this year by NME and Radio One’s Zane Lowe are one of the biggest Liverpool bands to be included in the line-up. There will be many more artists added to the bill but early acts announced include Gruff Rhys, Kodaline, Clean Bandit, Jungle and The Hold Steadies. Popular artists such as Florence and the Machine, The

TOY at last year’s Sound City festival Maccabees and Ed Sheeran performed at Sound City during their rise to fame, showcasing the festival’s ability to handpick the best in new talent. The Beatles’ themed Hard Days Night Hotel will become host to a music industry conference during the day, covering a range of entertainment topics. The conference also includes Q&As with John Cale from the Velvet Underground, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth and Rick Parry, Liverpool FC’s former CEO. In addition, the three day festival will also offer innovative screen-printed poster exhibitions, ﬁlm screenings, photography showcases as well as interactive performance art at venues such as FACT and Camp & Furnace.

Top 5

Pic © Facebook/Liverpool Sound City

Kevin McManus from Liverpool Vision spoke to Liverpool Life about the beneﬁts of hosting Sound City: “Sound City, along with other music events like LIMF, the Festival of Psychedelia, and Threshold, plays an important part in attracting national international audiences to Liverpool. In addition the conference side of Sound City attracts key players from the digital world to the city and offers opportunities for Liverpool businesses to do business with international partners. Overall it showcases the city as a great place to do business, to study, and to party.” In testament to their success, Sound City was nominated for two awards at the UK Festival Awards last year. Despite only being in its seventh year,

Sound City went up against massive UK festivals such as Glastonbury, Bestival, Latitude, Leeds and Reading for the Best Metropolitan Festival and Best Line Up awards. A wristband for the festival can be purchased on the Sound City website for £55 and single day passes are £33. Tickets are available for two out of three days for £49.50. Attendees can get the full Sound City experience with a three day conference and live festival pass for £120. Liverpool John Moores have also joined forces with Sound City to offer students and staff an exclusive discount. Students can buy the three day conference and live festival pass for just £65 and the three day live pass for £44.

With the ﬁrst two waves of acts announced, Ryan McElroy picks the Top 5 acts to see garage-rock titans The Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr. (son of Gibraltar’s legendary singer/songwriter Albert Hammond) is set to grace the city with an appearance at this year’s Sound City. Although things would be inﬁnitely more exciting with the rest of his Strokes bandmates in tow, this will still make for one of the unmissable moment’s in Liverpool’s gig calendar this year. Songs like ‘Strange Tidings’ shed the angular, nonchalant riffage of The Strokes, instead opting for a slightly more twee andmellow alt-rock sound that displays a less seen, but no less remarkable side of the New Yorker’s songwriting.

F**k

Buttons – Bristolian electroduo F**k Buttons were one of the ﬁrst headliners announced and will bring their unique adrenaline-pumping inferno of

post-rock electronica and towering noise to the festival. Critically acclaimed latest album ‘Slow Focus’, was released last year on ATP Records.

Circa Waves – Liverpool’s own four-piece Circa Waves are, according to NME, the best thing since sliced bread. It’s hard to argue, with the band bringing a cheerful pop-rock sound a lá Two Door Cinema Club or early Libertines to the table along with a sizeable dose of industry hype. Drenge – 2013 was the Year of Drenge.

Rising to prominence thanks to an unlikely fan in the form of Labour MP Tom Watson, a relentless touring schedule and appearances at Glastonbury, ‘Later… Live With Jools Holland’, the two brothers from Shefﬁeld released their debut self-titled album last August.

Music

Liverpool’s International Jazz Festival returns this year to the Capstone Theatre. The line-up includes Unfurl, The Impossible Gentlemen and Jason Rebello who has enjoyed a remarkable career in music, recording several albums with Sting, as well as working with the likes of Jeff Beck, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. Wayne Shorter produced his ﬁrst album, A Clearer View, which debuted at number one. There will be concerts as well as workshops and an exhibition of drawings done by jazz legend, Miles Davis. There will even be a free saxophone master class for those who fancy trying their hand at jazz. Festivities run from 27th February to the 2nd March and tickets are available at http:// www.thecapstonetheatre.com/

Arts

Mello Mello café on Slater Street is set to launch a monthly open-mic poetry night in March. The night will showcase the best Liverpool has to offer in verse, slam and spoken word poetry, and allow like-minded poets the chance to meet up and get to know each other. The event is completely free and will be hosted by local screenplay writer and poet Alison Down. Mello Mello Café, Slater Street, Monday 10th March, 8PM, free.

Comedy

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis come to the newly opened Everyman Theatre on Thursday for the penultimate night of their comedy play Ploughing on Regardless. Dennis has enjoyed much comedy success, being a regular panellist on Mock the Week as well as playing Pete on acclaimed comedy Outnumbered. Punt has worked as a screenwriter as well as a voiceover artist. He and Dennis have been a comedy double-act since the 1980s when they met at Cambridge University. The tour reaches Liverpool on the 27th of February for one night only. Tickets are available at http://www. everymanplayhouse.com/

One of the UK’s most iconic comedy actors, John Challis, best known for playing ‘Boycie’ in Only Fools and Horses will be coming to Liverpool in March. The actor will be coming to the Unity Theatre to put on an intimate show titled ‘Only Fools and Boycie’. He will be sharing secrets from the set of the iconic sit-com and will tell stories and anecdotes from his storied career. Prices for tickets will be £15 and the show will begin at 8PM on Saturday 15th March.

Cinema

Picks Albert Hammond Jr. – Guitarist for

Critics’ Choice

Pic © Drenge/Twitter

They also put in an electrifying testosterone-fuelled turn at last year’s festival, which saw frontman Eoin Loveless thrashing through The Shipping Forecast, the coming year should see them reach even greater heights. With cheerful ditties like ‘Backwaters’ and ‘I Wanna Break You In Half’, you should expect teenage angst and smalltown frustration married with bombastic Sabbath-esque riffage and a hell of a lot of fun.

The Wytches – Surf-psych troupe The Wytches return to the city following their last appearance at The Shipping Forecast earlier this month. Psychedelia is typically associated with Summer of Love style hippie-ness, but The Wytches paint the tie-dye black in what sounds a little like The Horrors and Arctic Monkeys on a bad trip.

Wes Anderson’s latest quirky flick, The Grand Budapest Hotel, will hit our cinema screens on the 7th of March. Ralph Fiennes plays the suave hotel owner Gustave who finds himself in trouble after an elderly guest Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) dies mysteriously, leaving him a priceless painting in her will. The comedy- drama features a stellar ensemble cast, the standard of Wes Anderson films. Tony Revolori plays Gustave’s trusty lobby boy alongside Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law and others.

TV Matthew McConaughey’s transformation from shirtless himbo to enthralling actor has already earned him his ﬁrst Oscar nomination. His new-found intensity is perfectly showcased by True Detective, the eerie, Louisianaset crime thriller, which started an eight-week run on Sky Atlantic on Saturday. He stars as Det. Rustin Cohle, the maverick cop paired with exCheers star Woody Harrelson’s good ol’ boy partner, Det. Martin Hart.

Life|Focus|8

We miss Neil G

raduation day is inevitably an euphoric day ﬁlled with cheers and celebrations of years of hard work paying off, but in amongst the highs of the day, a poignant story lies. Every year, the LJMU Journalism student with the highest overall grade is the recipient of the ‘Neil Warburton Prize’. A prize which includes a £100 cheque and a personal message from a mother who lost her son far too soon. Neil Warburton was a journalism student at Liverpool John Moores University in 1999 and had ambitions to become a leading sports journalist. However at the end of his second year, Neil suffered epileptic seizures

Neil Warburton was just 20 when he died while he was a second year Journalism student at LJMU. Each year the department remembers him with a prize in his honour. Nathan Pearce spoke to his family and friends to ﬁnd out more of such severity that he couldn’t be saved. Neil passed away on 5th June 2000 due to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). Neil’s death has been something his parents Sue and Glynn, sister Louise and the rest of his family and loved ones have had to deal with every day since. Neil’s mother Sue said: “This was a massive shock to the family as Neil had never previously had any seizures.” Neil spent 16 days in intensive care and despite the best efforts of the dedicated staff and

the love, support and prayers of family and friends; he lost his battle for life. “We miss Neil just as much now as ever and always will. We had 20 years of joy and happy memories which help us through difﬁcult days and which no-one can take away.”

ouise Warburton, Neil’s sister, added: “Neil was a great brother, lots of fun and always helpful, especially with maths homework which I was never any good at! I miss him every day.”

As a child, Neil developed two of the most important skills to become a journalist, the constant asking of the question ‘why’ and a passion for writing. He dreamed of one day reporting on his favourite football team, Manchester City. Neil came about as close to that dream as possible, when during a work experience placement at the Manchester Evening News, the opportunity arose for Neil to interview then-manager, Frank Clark. Neil’s connection to the club will remain forever after his family decided to

scatter some of his ashes at the club’s former stadium, Maine Road and also engraved his name in the player’s tunnel at their current home, the Etihad Stadium. Sport played an integral part of Neil’s childhood and transition into adulthood. He spent many happy weekends watching the football with his dad Glynn, from both the home stands of the Bury and Manchester City grounds, to the comfort of the family home. His granddad also fondly remembers how he introduced

Neil to the wonders of cricket, by taking him to watch matches at the nearby Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

ue has a memory box with two particularly treasured items, the ﬁrst of which is a recording of a radio show, recorded by Neil and his friend, Paul Turp for station SHOUT FM. Sue treasures this most because it gives the chance for the family to hear Neil’s voice. Secondly, a memory compiled by Neil’s friends back home and at university, features a particularly funny memory showing how Neil’s charming manner somehow allowed him to listen to the cricket while reciting Shakespeare at college.

8 7

HAPPY TIMES, GREAT MEMORIES: 1 - Neil ensured university life was maximum fun; 2 - Neil and Paul Turp celebrating on one of their many nights out; 3 - His ear-to-ear grin always added to his larger than life personality; 4 - Neil’s infamous Miss Moneypenny get-up and posing with Lisa-Jane Munns and Jon Holmes; 5 - Neil and Paul regularly presented a radio show together; 6 - Neil and Paul pose in their costumes; 7 -Neil and Paul on a karaoke night; 8 - Richard Rudin, Paul Turp, Jon Holmes, Richard Fisher, Neil, Lisa-Jane Munns, Adrian Quinn and Dan Goater enjoy a night at the pub

Life|Focus|9

just as much now as ever and always will HAPPIER TIMES: Neil enjoys a laugh Sue said: “One of Neil’s closest Bury friends, Stephen, refers to an English Lit class in college, where by using his quick wit and charm he got away with listening to the cricket on his Walkman whilst reading out parts of Hamlet. “Neil would have loved how easy it is to do this now with all of the new gadgets, like iPads and iPhones and

the wonderful world of social media.” On the day that Neil should have graduated, Sue collected a posthumous diploma in Neil’s honour and all of the graduates wore blue ribbons, a nod to Manchester City, to commemorate Neil. “Whilst it was lovely to see all Neil's friends on such a happy day, it was a

bittersweet day for us and certainly not the Graduation Day I had anticipated. “Receiving the diploma was an extremely emotional but proud moment. “I can remember the chancellor enveloping me in a huge bear hug as he made the presentation,” added Sue. Every year on June 5th, the anniversary of Neil’s

by Nathan Pearce

mates for the ﬁrst time, for example. With Neil, however, it felt like I’d known him for years. “He was always great entertainment value, but really helpful too and just created such a happy atmosphere whenever he was around. I’ll certainly never forget how he made me laugh and I miss him hugely.” Many of Neil’s friends fondly remember a rather infamous James Bond themed fancy dress party, where Neil, never one to follow tradition, instead of turning up suited and booted as the man himself, arrived as secretary, Miss Moneypenny.

Joanne Jones, another of Neil’s friends and coursemates, said: “On the night, Neil arrived and immediately stole the show. “He’d come dressed as Miss Moneypenny, complete with ﬂoral dress, wig, and perfect make-up and a pair of trainers. He was criticised for the trainers spoiling the overall look to which he replied: ‘You try ﬁnding a pair of high heels in size 11!’” Neil made such an impact that memories and reminders of him can crop up in the most unlikely of places. Joanne went travelling after she graduated and after a three month stay in a hostel

death, Sue makes a pilgrimage from Bury to Liverpool to visit some of the places closely related to Neil, and that trip includes a trip to the cathedral where Neil would have graduated in 2001.

t may have been 14 years ago since Neil passed away, but for all of those lucky enough to have crossed paths with Neil,

everyday they’re reminded of the fact that he’s no longer with them. As Sue said: “Neil had made so many friends, and it’s a real testament to him. “I think it’s quite amazing how many messages of support we still receive from friends and family each year on the anniversary of Neil’s death.” Sue, like so many of Neil’s

friends, ﬁrmly believes she’ll be reunited with Neil; somewhere, somehow. “As a mum who absolutely and 100% believes that I will be reunited with Neil one day, I was touched that so many of his peers referred to the same belief as well. “Neil was not ours to keep – we just borrowed him – but how lucky we were.”

“Of course, Neil was ﬁrst up for that and I actually kept his e-mail, it just said ‘I’ll be there Rudders. You can count on me’. That’s still in my inbox from 2000.” Neil’s passion for football and in particular, Manchester City, helped him form a close friendship with Jon, who remembers how they regularly mourned the losses of their favourite football teams. Jon said: “Our shared support of relatively rubbish football teams, me Plymouth and him Manchester City, who had recently dropped into the third division, certainly helped us become good mates. “Like most City fans, I’m

sure he’d have welcomed their incredible turnaround in fortunes without forgetting the more comedic days of the past.” Neil’s loss still affects all of those who knew him and they are reminded every day that he’s no longer with them. Every time his old coursemates meet up, Neil is never far from their thoughts. Jo said: “There will always be an empty seat at the dinner table when we all get together, a vacant spot on the dance ﬂoor at [nightclub] Blue Angel and a gaping void in all of our hearts missing that piece of Neil that will never be forgotten.”

‘There will always be an empt� seat at the dinner table’ N

eil spent two of his happiest years at Liverpool John Moores University; in that time he made a lasting impression on all those he met. The ﬁrst day of university is often a daunting one, but as his course-mates fondly remember, Neil made that day as effortless and natural as every day that followed it. Jon Holmes, one of Neil’s friends and course-mates, said: “The ﬁrst proper day at university (after all the preliminary drinking) is a little daunting, meeting course-

in rural Australia, noticed that right next door was a business called ‘Warburton’s’. Only one lecturer remains at John Moores from Neil’s time at the University. Radio lecturer Richard Rudin fondly remembers Neil as a hard-working, lively student and a wholly ‘ordinary lad’.

ichard said: “I think it’s really important that they know he was just like them – just at the start of his adult life. “The last e-mail I have of him was just before he collapsed, I was doing an industry evening and I needed meeters and greeters.

Life|Health|10

‘My heart just decided to stop...’

It’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and Jack Birch speaks to one recovering sufferer of anorexia about how the staff at the Liverpool Royal University Hospital saved her life

Lorna in hospital suffering from the effects of anorexia

his week marks the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week which runs until the beginning of March. The week is aimed to challenge stereotypes surrounding the conditions in order for people to understand more about them. Eating disorders affect 1.6 million people in the UK – claiming more lives than any other mental illness. People with anorexia have an increased risk of poor circulation and cardiovascular problems, and heart conditions, such as coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia). In 2011 Lorna Dewhurst was visiting her brother’s home in

Wavertree with family when they realised she had been longer than usual in the shower. After mum, Carol, brother, Rob and his wife, Charlotte repeatedly called out to Lorna without reply, they took the drastic decision of knocking down the bathroom door. To their horror, Lorna was found unconscious and face down in the bath. At 31, and weighing just ﬁve stone, she had suffered a cardiac arrest. Lorna was taken by ambulance to the Liverpool Royal University Hospital and was admitted to the intensive care unit. Carol said: “When we got to the unit, they were brilliant, not

The picture of good health - Lorna Dewhurst now just to Lorna but to us as well. I don’t think she’d have survived if she was anywhere else.” Lorna spent six weeks at the intensive care and high dependency unit, before being transferred to Bristol Hospital, closer to her Cheltenham home. Carol added: “It’s sad she has lost 10 years of her life to anorexia, but without the care she got at the Royal, she wouldn’t have a life now. It’s a fantastic place.” The family have fundraised for the Royal’s R Charity and intend to send money each Christmas as a mark of gratitude for the care Lorna received. Lorna says the near-death experience acted as a real wake-up call to the damaging effect that anorexia can have on the body. She said: “My heart just decided to stop – it couldn’t cope anymore. It was completely out of the blue. I don’t remember feeling faint and I’ve never had

any symptoms before. I could have been driving or on my own somewhere – I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by family.” MRI and CT scans revealed Lorna had sustained no lasting damage to her heart and a year after being discharged she met her ﬁancé Jeremy. The couple plan to marry in 2015 after he proposed last year. Now a healthy nine stone for her 5ft 7in frame, she added: “I have been back to the Royal twice with Mum and in August I brought my ﬁancé and took some chocolates for the staff who looked after me. It’s amazing seeing it from a healthy person’s perspective and it gave me some closure.” Carol added: “Lorna knows she lost her life and got it back, we feel she got the best care possible at the Royal and we are lucky to have her with us today.”

Wait-less weight-loss

Jack Birch serves up a look at some of the quirkiest quick-ﬁx diets Weight loss methods are nothing new. For years people have sought out the best way to shed the pounds, even going as far as extreme dieting. But now a new injection has been invented that could remove dieting as an essential requirement in the pursuit of weight loss – and a woman from Liverpool was one of the ﬁrst to try it. Sharon Donaldson, 39, from Liverpool underwent the new treatment, dubbed Aqualyx, before her wedding to Peter, 32, last year. The creators of the treatment, which can cost up to £1000, claim it is an effective alternative to liposuction, suggesting it dissolves fat cells and allows us to pass them out of our bodies when we urinate.

Atkins Diet

This diet hit fame in 2002 when Robert Atkins published his book, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, a follow-up to his first book in 1972. The diet involves limited consumption of carbohydrates and a high intake of protein-based foods. Atkins claimed that hunger was the top reason that low-fat diets fail, and that the Atkins diet is easier because one is satisfied with protein, fat and fibre.

5:2 Diet

Recently, it has been the 5:2 diet that has been the favoured choice of those looking to lose some extra weight. The programme developed by Dr. Michael Mosley allows dieters to eat whatever they want for ﬁve days as long as they fast for the remaining two days, eating only 500 calories per day. Dr. Mosley’s method has risen to such popularity due to the relaxed nature of the diet.

Baby Food Diet

Aside from the Atkins diet, Jennifer Aniston has also admitted to trying the weight loss technique inadvertently used by infants the world over – the Baby Food diet. This method requires dieters to replace two meals a day with a pot of baby food. People looking to take up this diet can look forward to such delicacies as ‘cheesy pasta bake’, ‘creamed porridge’ and ‘mashed Sunday roast’.

Tetris Diet

If you’re tired of counting the calories in your low-fat Greek apricot yoghurt for the hundredth time, take a rest and play a game of Tetris – you may even lose weight! Researchers at Plymouth University claim that just three minutes of the classic video game can reduce food cravings. It works by distracting the user’s brain so they don’t have time to visualise snacks, alcoholic or cigarettes.

Photos: © chrisinplymouth ©bettie-rage/CreativeCommons/Flickr

Life|Gaming|11

Why the future is bright for Liverpool’s hot new videogame studio...

Firesprite’s Playroom Arcade game for the Playstation 4 in action

From being a UK studio of videogame giant Sony to becoming independent, Firesprite are now doing rather well for themselves ... as Cillian McGinn ﬁnds out

n 2012 Sony Worldwide Studios closed three of its video game development companies - one of those studios was Studio Liverpool. In November last year, Studio Liverpool sprung back into life as Firesprite, a new independent game studio with huge potential. Studio Liverpool sprung back in 1984 albeit as a different company Psygnosis, an independent company that began from the ashes of game studio Imagine software. In 1993 the team were acquired by Sony Electronic Publishing in preparation for the release of the Playstation in 1995 in North America and Europe and

in 2001 Psygnosis transformed into Studio Liverpool. Over the year the team worked on games such as the Wipeout series, the Formula One series and the Colony series. Notably their Formula One game released in 2003 was nominated for a BAFTA. In their new conference room you can see all the history this new studio had to offer. “Everything on the wall here has a story behind it, either a member of the team has worked on or they’ve had a personal interest in” said Managing Director Graeme Ankers. Graeme worked at Studio Liverpool as a Studio Director alongside fellow founders Lee Carus (Art Director), Chris Roberts (Technical Director), Stuart Tilley (Executive Game Director) and Dr Stuart Lovegrove (Programming Director) before the team decided to create Firesprite. “We always knew what we wanted to do,” he said. Graeme talked about how the ﬁve founders had decided to move on from Studio Liverpool and create something new. “We always imagined we would go ahead and make something and create a studio. There were too many things that we still wanted to do and

‘When we first started up we were working out of people’s flats, meeting up in bars or coffee shops. It’s a different world away from where we are now’ achieve ourselves.” Graeme explained that the team’s journey had started in November 2012, an entire year before the team went public. He said “When we first started up we were working out of people’s flats, meeting up in bars or coffee shops. It’s a different world away from where we are now, which is great.”

e added: “It’s been an incredible journey in a little over a year.” Graeme explained that he had taken the decision to not go public so early into the new company’s life. He said “There wasn’t really a story there; it would have just been us waving at the camera basically saying ‘hello.’ We thought it would

be great to talk when we’d delivered something and that was really what we had set out to do.” In November 2013 the team went public at the same time as the launch of Sony’s Playstation 4, something that the team had been working on a release game for. “The reaction we had from the announcement was hugely humbling. It’s great to see there’s so much love for what the team had worked on” Graeme explained. “It was a really touching thing for us.” The current set up is a 22-person team, 15 of which formally worked at Studio Liverpool before it closed its doors. Graeme explained that when the five founders first got into an office back in 2012 there were “tons”

of empty desks. The majority of the team arrived over the winter in December and January with some fresh blood being added in March and April too. But Graeme doesn’t believe that this is it for the team, there’s more to come. He said: “I can certainly see us growing from where we are now. It will be very measured growth.”

raeme explained that the people that this company wants are not easy to come by, He said “The people we would want to join us here, we want the very best and you can’t just go out and get 10 people straight away of the quality that we want.” He added that there must be a balance considered too of people with experience but also young talent that can freshen the team up. Graeme explained that the desire for new staff had to match the team’s high level productions standards. As Studio Liverpool members of this team produced high quality games with excellent content, and this was the same ethos that Firesprite would follow. He said “The main thing is about

us delivering a high production value. We’re ultimately focused on delivering quality experiences, it’s what drives us. You need a certain number to deliver a certain production value, and for us it’s important that we achieve that.” The team worked on the game ‘The Playroom’ which came preinstalled on every Playstation 4 console when launched last November. Graeme explained that doing a launch title game was a real coup for Firesprite. “The Playroom is brilliant. What it allowed us was to bring our qualities to a different type of genre.” Graeme explained that this showed the team could bring their high quality standards to something that they’d never worked on before, show casing their pedigree as a game development studio. He added that this was a big challenge for the team moving away from the classic type of game and working on a new experience for gamers. The foreseeable future appears bright for Firesprite, with the team working on new projects, Graeme believes the team will showcase their versatility and “ﬂexing more of their technical muscle.”

Life|Fashion|12

Be PROUD in PINK

David Beckham, Brad Pitt and Tinnie Tempah are just a few who have been seen to wear pink, so why are so many men shy of it? Research has shown that men who wear pink are not only seen as attractive to the other sex, but it has also been found that wearing pink is good for their wallets, their love lives and it’s seen as an adventurous colour on men. So what could go wrong lads? Be brave, be proud and wear PINK!

Here are Alisha Daya’s top pink picks for men...

Shirt Florence + Fred £15

Shorts ASOS £22

Belt Marks and Spencers £25

Tie Marks and Spencers £12.50

Watch Superdry £59.99 Chinos Marks and Spencers £39.50

Jumper Marks and Spencers £39.50

Pictures: PR Shots

Life|Food|13

Tastes like heaven This Friday sees the celebration of one of Liverpool’s iconic treasures, the winter-warming meal Scouse. Joshua Weale reports how the city celebrates Global Scouse day...

SC T

he event was started six years ago by Graham Hughes an adventurer, filmmaker and proud Scouser. He is also the Guinness World record holder as the first man to travel to every United Nations country without flying once, a feat he completed in 2012 after four years. Scouse is a form of stew that is cooked on the hob instead of in the oven and is a traditional meal for many homes in Liverpool. The meal is popular thanks to its cheap and easy method to make and its unique taste.

Graham started the event seven years ago which was inspired towards one of his friend’s birthday falling on Burns night. Graham and his friends used to celebrate the Scottish Tradition for his friend’s birthday. He told Liverpool Life: “I just thought it would be boss to have something like Burns night for Liverpool. So every February the 28th we decided to get together to eat scouse for no good reason other than that we should all eat scouse.”

USE

Global Scouse day just began as one of Graham’s ideas but seven years on it has now snowballed into a full scale celebration of one of Liverpool’s iconic civic dishes. Over 50 Liverpool restaurants will have Scouse on the menu to mark the day. Although he is very well travelled Graham has always found that wherever he goes there is always someone who has experienced some sort of Liverpool’s

‘strong cultural identity’. He said “When you look at Liverpool in the 1960’s there was one million people, now there’s just 430,000, they must of all gone somewhere but no matter where they are they still remember their roots.” Having travelled the world Graham has experienced many different cultures and foods, this has all added to his varied tastes and food knowledge. He added “My dream is that other people around the world

could get involved. I had it in my head that people from Mexico could put chilli beans in their Scouse, or people in Australia putting kangaroo in the dish and really make the dish their own.” As part of the day Maggie May’s restaurant on Bold Street will be hosting ‘a great Liverpudlian Scouse off’ inspired by the Great British Bake off, with Lord Mayor Gary Millar as the judge. The competition will allow local residents and Scouse enthusiasts the chance to prove that they make the best pot of Scouse in the city.

A group called ‘Project Scouse’ made up of four people from the city’s food industry that promote local food and drink and want to celebrate everything Scouse are also holding an event. The gala event will be a four course meal with traditional civic meals on the menu including a special version of Scouse itself. There will also be entertainment and special guest Liverpudlian musician Esco Williams. If you love Scouse or even if you’ve never tried it before, Friday is your chance to experience a part of Liverpool’s heritage.

. . . s y a s l u Pa I

t is a dish that warms the heart and stomachs of those lucky enough to consume it. A dish of such dietary value that people of all ages and from all walks of life can enjoy it, writes Paul McIntyre. And a dish that is, quite simply, part of the very fabric of the Liverpool community. What, though, do we actually know about this wonderful cuisine? Apart from the fact it helps the young to grow up big and strong, most of what is known about scouse comes from rumour and assumption. Supposedly the word is derived from the term lobscouse, which can be dated back to as early as 1706. The origins of the dish are equally as mysterious,

with differing theories suggesting that it comes from Germany, Latvia, and Norway. The latter has its own dish, named lapskaus, which like scouse is a stew consisting of meat and vegetable ingredients. Nowhere though is scouse as ubiquitous as it is in Liverpool, the city with which it is most closely associated. It is so intrinsic to the culture of Liverpool that the city’s dialect has also been entitled scouse. Though surrounding areas like St. Helens and Wigan eat varieties of the dish like wild savages with no comprehension of ﬁne cuisine, in Liverpool, the dish is revered for the masterpiece it is. What do you think about Scouse, though? Tell us your opinion @LivLifeNews

FURY SECURE FOURTH SPOT

By Joshua Weale

John Moores American football team JMU Fury will be heading to the national plate play-offs after ending their league campaign on a high, with a resounding 57-0 home win over opponents Keele Crusaders. The team finished the season in fourth place, just two points off the leaders, with six wins and two defeats. This means that they will be going to the playoffs for the first time in their history, making them the most successful JMU team ever. Captain of the side John Maher said: “The win against the Keele Crusaders will keep our momentum going into the playoffs where we can face anyone from the UK. I’m glad to be part of the best Fury team in the clubs history so far.” It was a comprehensive performance from the American football team with strong attacking plays backed up by solid defence shutting Keele out. Ross Jones who plays centre on the offensive line said: “The Keele game was our best game point wise offensively, whilst the defence was efficient with the way they played. Despite the score line though Keele showed a lot of spirit and class in the game.” The draw for the play offs will take place in March with the matches being played in spring.

ROVERS BUYOUT BREAKS DOWN

Life|Sports|15

Jubilant JMU in 3-0 hockey rout By Joshua Weale

The LJMU’s Women’s hockey third team won 3-0 away to earn bragging rights over Universitry of Liverpool on Wednesday. The team secured a brilliant 3-0 away win over their fierce University rivals at the Wyncotte ground. JMU came out fighting from the first whistle and took the lead early on with a simple finish from first year Barbara Odger. The second goal came ten minutes before the end of the first half thanks to a run by Ffion Harris, who took on five opposition players before setting up Catherine Bazley-Harrison for a very good finish. With the John Moores girls in a commanding position heading into the second half, the Liverpool University team fought back but couldn’t break through the resilient defence of the JMU side. The victory was secured by Barbara Odger with a straight shot from the top of the Dee for her second goal of the game. The attacking play was backed up by tenacious defending and some great keeping

BRAGGING RIGHTS: JMU’s women’s hockey third team can boast a 3-0 drubbing over their University of Liverpool rivals from net minder Sophie Holder who made some excellent saves to hold on to the clean sheet. Captain Harriet Smith was very proud of the team and the result she said: “The team

played brilliantly together as shown by the ﬁnal score. Continuous hard work at training and commitment to the club results in score lines that cannot be questioned.

unlikely with only one more game to play, against none other than league leaders Lancaster, they can take great pride in a succession of great performances this season.

Trampolining team jumping for joy By Joshua Weale

By Elen Crean Ex-Southampton chairman, Michael Wilde is no longer in talks with Tranmere Rovers over a deal that would have seen former Chelsea defender Albert Ferrer appointed as head coach. The Wirral-born property developer, Wilde, said the pair had been unable to come to an agreement over the club. He added: “Following recent speculations, I was interested in acquiring Tranmere Rovers and I have worked extremely hard over the last six months trying to negotiate a deal with the board. “Unfortunately, however, following talks with Peter Johnson, and despite agreement in respect of many areas, we have been unable to conclude a ﬁnal agreement. Consequently, and after much consideration, I have now decided to withdraw from the process and I wish Tranmere Rovers every success in the future.” Rovers’ chairman, Peter Johnson who has been involved in the club for over 25 years, has been appealing for new investment in the club for several years. With Ronnie Moore suspended pending the outcome of a Football Association inquiry into an alleged breach of betting rules, John McMahon is currently in caretaker charge of the ﬁrst team at Prenton Park.

“Once again I am proud to be captain of such a hard working, motivated, fun team.” This puts them in third place in the Northern 6A division, and although promotion looks

TRIUMPH: JMU trampolining team celebrate gold & bronze in the Shefﬁeld championships

Liverpool John Moores trampolining team are celebrating after an amazing weekend at the BUC’s trampolining championships in Sheffield, winning an individual gold medal and a team bronze. This is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar for all of the countries trampolining university teams and the competition was high. JMU took 11 competitors to the tournament and out of them five managed to get a place in the top 12. Steven Williams produced two stunning routines to finish 1st and win the gold medal in the individual competition. Other trampolinists Haydn Jones finished 11th, Louise Murphy, 6th, Elizabeth Swain, 5th and Sophia Singleton, 4th. The girls’ places meant that they collectively secured the bronze medal for the overall Best Women’s Team. Co-Captain of the team Lou-

ise Murphy told Liverpool Life: “We’ve worked really hard on the routines and have taken this competition really seriously putting on a lot more sessions than we did last year. Working harder has really paid off and we are really happy with the results.” The team has been working closely with Liverpool City trampolining club and with one of the most recognised coaches in the country Jay Scouler, really improving their performance, which has shown with their medal haul at the BUC’s national championships. Steven Williams qualified in first place on Saturday and managed to pull out an even harder routine on Sunday to secure the gold medal. Next up for the team is a return to Sheffield for their NEUT league competition. They currently sit in second place in the division and they are confident that after their good showing here, they can push on to secure first place in the league.

Marathon match raises almost 10k By Lauren Cordelle

Everton legend Kevin Sheedy was among the famous faces who took part in a 24 hour ﬁvea-side charity football match that raised almost £10,000. The game, dubbed ‘Match for the Day’, was organized in order to raise money for cancer charities including Cancer Research UK and the Lyndale Cancer Support Centre, and was held in Aigburth at the John Moores University IM Marsh building. Paul Hughes, whose Mother is attending the Lyndale Cancer Support Centre, came up with the idea. He wrote on the Footyscene website that she had found the centre to be an ‘amazing

support network’ and a ‘really special place’. His wife Cat shaved her head after the game had ﬁnished in order to raise even more money for the charities, as well as having her own personal reasons for doing so. Nayah Robinson from Liverpool went along to the event because her mum works within the NHS Liverpool Community Health, whose employees were participating in the 24 hour contest. She told Liverpool Life: “There was such great support throughout the 24 hours, there was music played, and overall there was just a lovely atmosphere.”

At the end of the game, the score had to be forfeited after the person keeping score lost count due to the extreme length of the match. The proceeds of ‘Match for the Day’ have so far reached £9726.00, will be split equally between the Lyndale Cancer Support Centre in Huyton, and Cancer Research UK. Nayah added: “At the end of the event, roughly £9000 had been raised, even though the target was £3000, and everybody made a donation. It was great.” To donate money to the event, go to: www.justgiving.com/ teams/MatchForTheDay2014

Liverpool

LifeSPORT 25-Febuary-2014

Trampolinists hit the heights

Inside Sport

Success for womens hockey team P 15

SUPERSTARS: Haydn Jones, Louise Murphy, Elizabeth Swain, and Sophia Singleton of LJMU’s trampolining team receive their bronze medals for Best Womens Team at the BUC’s trampolining championships in Shefﬁeld. The team has been working with one of the country’s most recognised coaches to improve their performance, which was clear from the medal haul they collected at the weekend. Full story on page 15

SPORTING CHANCES New funding boost for primary school facilities

By Lauren Cordelle

New funding has become available to schools across the country, including Merseyside, helping them with space for sport activities and P.E. lessons. The funding which has been named Primary Spaces, is an investment of £18 million of National Lottery funding, which will improve Physical Education (P.E.), sport and activity facilities in primary schools across the country. A recent consultation by Sport

England with around 3,000 primary schools, revealed that they have very little or no outside space available for sport. Primary Spaces was therefore established, helping fund primary schools so that they can create sports spaces. A maximum of 600 schools will receive funding up to £30,000 to spend on a variety of specially created packages which can be tailored to meet their needs. The fund aims to help provide outdoor multi-sport areas which can be used both within the curriculum and

out of school hours. As well as this, staff and volunteers at the school will receive information on how best to use the new facilities and equipment to help children get active. Sports facilities and keeping physically active as a child is vital, and with so many schools having no space or minimal space available for such activities, it’s difﬁcult for such sports sessions to take place. The funding will help schools make good use of small spaces and provide low cost

facilities which will provide a degree of enclosure, colour and innovation that will inspire physical activity and participation by children. Sport England believes that from an early age, lifelong patterns of positive behaviour and involvement can be established through participation in physical activity, developing movement and social skills, communication and language techniques, as well as coordination and co-operation amongst young children. The funding will be available

by application only, and only some will be successful. A special criteria will need to be met by the schools, this includes the request that the school must be able to show it has little or no outdoor space which can currently be used for P.E. and sports sessions. There also needs to be evidence of capacity for improvement and ﬁnally the “school needs to demonstrate a commitment to P.E. and sport”. Applications were being accepted from yesterday, and will be accepted until 24th March this year.

LJMU Jets head to nationals P 14

Rovers talks collapse P 14