Morecambe

The 2010/11 Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards took place yesterday at the Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel, near Accrington. The event was hosted by TV wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan.

The winners and highly commended were announced as follows:

Bed and Breakfast/Guest Accommodation of the Year – Sponsored by VisitBlackpool
Winner: Number One, South Beach, Blackpool
Highly Commended: Langtry’s Blackpool

Access for All Tourism Award – Sponsored by Tourism For All
Winner: Mytton Fold Hotel and Golf Complex, Langho

Sustainable Tourism Award – Sponsored by Business Link
Winner: Clough Bottom Farm Cottages, Bashall Eaves
Highly Commended: Caldertop Cottage, Garstang

Small Hotel of the Year – Sponsored by Lancashire County Council
Winner: The Midland Hotel, Morecambe
Highly Commended: The Gibbon Bridge Hotel, Chipping

Large Hotel of the Year – Sponsored by Welcome to Excellence
Winner: Best Western Premier Leyland Hotel

Best Tourism Event of the Year – Sponsored by Fat Media
Top Three voted by public vote
Winner – 1940s Wartime Weekend, East Lancashire Railway
2ndPlace – World Fireworks Championships, Blackpool
3rd Place – Festival Bowland

Online Marketing Award – Sponsored by New Mind
Winner: Pleasure Beach Resort, Blackpool
Highly Commended: The Grand Theatre, Blackpool

Taste Lancashire Award – Sponsored by Made in Lancashire and Food North West
Winner: The Highwayman, Burrow
Highly Commended: Greens Bistro, Lytham St Annes

Best Tourism Experience of the Year – Sponsored by Blackpool International Airport
Winner: Go Ape! Rivington
Highly Commended: Martin Mere Swan Spectacular, Nr Ormskirk

Caravan Holiday Park and Holiday Village of the Year – Sponsored by KPMG
Winner: Newton Hall Holiday Centre, Blackpool

Business Tourism Award of the Year – Sponsored by Virgin Trains
Winner: Stanley House, Mellor
Highly Commended: The Midland Hotel, Morecambe

Self Catering Award – The Northwest Regional Development Agency
Winner: The Old Shippon at Mellor
Highly Commended: Martin Lane Farmhouse Holiday Cottages, Burscough

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year – Sponsored by Workhouse Marketing
Winner: Clitheroe Castle and Museum

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year – Sponsored by University of Central Lancashire
Winner: Blackpool Zoo
Highly Commended: Pleasure Beach Resort, Blackpool

Lake District based community singing group Tongue Tribe will spread a little sunshine beneath Morecambe seafront’s Eric Morecambe statue on Sunday 6th June with free concerts at 2 pm and 3 pm.

Tongue Tribe perform unaccompanied and unplugged. Their repertoire ranges from Sinead O’Connor to Artisan as well as their own unique arrangement of the classic hit Bring Me Sunshine.

In January 2010 Tongue Tribe received a BBC Choral Fund grant to further their aims as a performance group.

Other Tongue Tribe performances:

• Kendal High Street, Stealth Singing, Saturday 5th June
• Kendal Town Hall, Sing Owt with Tongue Tribe, cabaret style, Saturday 12th June 8.00pm
• Sedbergh FolkFest, Saturday 26th June, 2.00pm
• Staveley Carnival, Sunday 11th June
• Also: Kendal Quaker Tapestry, Singing for Pleasure workshop, Saturday 4th September 10.00 – 4.00

To find out more go to www.tonguetide.biz

With summer approaching, Lancaster City Council is launching its annual programme of Sunday brass band concerts in Morecambe’s Happy Mount Park.

The concerts are as popular today as they where back in the 1970s, when they were first established, and regularly attract audiences of around 200 people from across the region.

This year’s programme starts on May 23, with the ever-popular Preston Concert Band. It then continues every Sunday, up to and including September 12.

Over the course of the season, the series will feature the very best of brass, drawn from across the North West. The concerts start at 2.30pm and are free of charge, but donations are welcome.

Situated at the east end of Morecambe’s promenade, Happy Mount Park provides a perfect setting for the concerts and is proud of its reputation of offering attractions for all ages.

As well as enjoying the music, visitors can take a stroll in the attractive parkland setting, sample the delights of the varied menu at the Café in the Park or try one of the park’s other attractions, such as the Happy Mount Express miniature railway, Splash Park or the recently opened adventure play park.

Seating is not provided, but members of the public might wish to take along their own picnic style chair or, alternatively, hire a deck chair at the park.

The full programme is as follows:

May

23 – Preston Concert Band
30 – Morecambe Bay Brass

June

6 – Blackpool Brass
13 – Morecambe Band
20 – Slaidburn Silver Band
27 – Kendal Concert Band

July

4 – Kirkby Lonsdale Band
11 – Kendal Concert Band
18 – Wilsden Band
25 – Morecambe Band

August

1 – Morecambe Band
8 – Morecambe Band
15 – Morecambe Band
22 – Pilling Band
29 – Morecambe Band

September

5 – Burneside Brass Band
12 – Morecambe Band

For more information contact the Visitor Information Centres in Morecambe or Lancaster (01524 582808 / 582394). Please note that the programme is subject to good weather and may change.

To celebrate the third anniversary of cycling on Morecambe Promenade, Lancaster City Council’s Cycling Demonstration Town team are organising a party.

‘Party on the Prom’ is a family fun day taking place on Sunday 9 May next to the Dome from 11am.

There will be lots to see and do for all ages so bring along your bikes, trikes, tandems and scooters and join in the fun.

A trials display team will wow the crowds with amazing bike stunts and tricks. Go head to head with friends and family to make a pedal powered smoothie and see if you can get the fastest time in the virtual bike race.

Dr Bike will be on hand to administer some first aid to any ailing bikes. The police will also be offering security advice and post coding. Information and advice will also be available from the Cycling Demonstration Town team

There is also the opportunity to take part in ‘Get Cycling’ bike tryouts or why not have a go at pedal powered Scalextric! Visit the big yellow DHL truck for advice on interaction between cyclists and HGVs. That’s not all, there will be lots more activities especially for children including a treasure hunt

In April 2007, ancient byelaws prohibiting cycling along the length of the promenade were lifted, opening up an additional five miles of off-road cycling with stunning views and a link to the district-wide cycle network. During last year alone, around 90,000 cycle trips took place along Morecambe promenade.

For more information about the party visit www.celebratingcycling.org or contact the council’s Cycling Demonstration Town Team on 01524 582392 or by email to celebratingcycling@lancaster.gov.uk.

Lancaster City Council has granted planning permission for a Travelodge hotel in Morecambe town centre.

The 60-room budget hotel will be located at junction of Euston Road and Central Drive. The shop premises currently situated there will be demolished.

Earlier this month Travelodge announced plans to open 26 new hotels in 2010, taking their portfolio of UK properties over the 400 mark.

There are currently no Travelodge hotels in Morecambe. The closest are the Lancaster M6 the the Burton M6 Northbound, both around 9 miles from the town.

Indoor ice skating will be offered in Morecambe this Christmas.

A synthetic ice rink will be at the Dome from December 15 – 24 2009. Sessions will start at the following times:

• Tuesday December 15 to Thursday December 17 – 3pm, 4pm, 5.30pm and 6.30pm.
• Friday December 18 – 9.30am, 10.30am, 11.30am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm.
• Saturday December 19 – 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm.
• Sunday December 20 to Wednesday December 23 – 9.30am, 10.30am, 11.30am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5.30pm, 6.30pm.
• Thursday December 24 – 9.30am, 10.30am and 11.30am.

Admission is £4.50 for adults, £3.50 for children, for a 45 minute session.

The rink comes complete with a snow machine and a music sound system to complete the festive atmosphere. Refreshments are also available. Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

A planning application has been submitted for four new pieces of play equipment in Morecambe’s Happy Mount Park as part of a £114,000 project to build a new natural adventure play area.

Designed specifically for children aged between eight and 13, the new equipment includes a five metre high swing, 34 metre long cable rider, maypole and a tree house.

The application is currently out to public consultation and is likely to be decided by Lancaster City Council’s planning committee on December 7 2009.

Should the application be granted planning permission the equipment will be central to the new play area, which will be located on the former miniature golf course at the rear of Happy Mount Park.

Other aspects of the park will include a woodland den area, a games area, new trees and natural resources such as sand, logs and boulders.

The aim is to create an area that provides children with more opportunities to play freely and creatively.

Lancaster City Council has been awarded more than £114,000 (BIG Lottery, Lancashire County Council Play Builder and Community Design and Arts Council England) to develop and deliver the project.

Morecambe Winter Gardens, Morecambe, weekends 5th – 27th September 2009

Decisive Moments is the latest exhibition curated by artist Sonja Campbell of The Snapshot Museum.

As part of a wider movement of social participation in British Contemporary Art, the show is a collaboration project with senior communities throughout the North West Region.

Displayed inside a purpose-built pop-up gallery within Morecambe’s Winter Gardens Theatre, the exhibition makes full use of this dramatic and once grandiose setting.

Populated entirely by extraordinary snapshots, Decisive Moments democratises fine art photography. The show forces a reappraisal and re-evaluation of the humble snapshot – not only as great photography, but as a mirror of our own life experience.

Simply taken, with no artistic agenda or intent, the images here could easily match up to the legendary likes of Cartier-Bresson or Diane Arbus – except these were more likely taken on a rudimentary box brownie camera than a Leica.

The installation is augmented with sound pieces from the participants – which sometimes contextualise the image and others playfully mystify the viewer.

None of the images displayed are less than 50 years old and often much older. Four of the collaborators are nonagenarians with the oldest Decisive Moments participant being 94.

However, these images have an electrifying existential resonance today. Showing the timelessness of the human condition, they explore themes of love, loss, belonging, family, friendship, and the pursuit of happiness.

The show challenges preconceived ideas about other people’s lives, ageing, and ultimately our own mortality.

Heritage Open Days allow visitors free access to properties that normally charge an entrance fee or are not usually open to the public.

The event starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday September 13.

Hundreds of attractions and properties in the North West are taking part. For more details visit the official Heritage Open Days website.

Highlights include:

Barrow

Furness Abbey (more…)

Visitors looking for a cheap place to stay in North West England next year (or indeed the rest of the UK, Ireland or Spain) should take note that Travelodge today launched an amazing offer on budget rooms.

The budget hotel chain is offering 50,000 rooms at only £12. The rate applies for stays between January 1 and April 1 2010. Rooms are also available from £19 (book 21 days ahead) and from £29 (book 7 days ahead).

To take advantage of this amazing offer, visit this page on their website.