Preston

Manchester City Council has confirmed that talks are in progress to move the National Football Museum to Manchester.

The attraction, currently based at Preston North End’s Deepdale Stadium, will move to Urbis in Manchester city centre next year.

The Preston museum opened in 2001 and has struggled to attract large numbers of visitors, despite boasting the world’s largest collection of football memorabilia and the official FIFA collection.

The plan is great news for North West England. Many feared that the museum could be relocated to the new Wembley stadium in London.

National Football Museum

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.

Planning permission has been granted for the development on the Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Reserve near Preston in Lancashire.

Building work is expected to start in October on the landmark floating visitors’ centre, designed by Adam Khan Architects.

The site will provide a fantastic self-financing regional environmental showcase, and has been designed to inspire and encourage people to visit the site to engage with the natural world.

The project is being developed as part of the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Forestry Commission’s £59 million Newlands land regeneration programme, in partnership with Lancashire Wildlife Trust. The facilities will include a café, shop, gallery, education, and meeting rooms.

Anne Selby, Chief Executive of The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said: “We are thrilled with the news that planning permission has been granted, and we can now make our vision a reality to develop Brockholes into a haven for both wildlife and people.”

Brockholes will have a wealth of habitats extending over 106 hectares, including lakes, reed beds, flower-rich grassland and a connection to 66-hectare adjacent semi-natural ancient woodland.

The £700 million plan to redevelop Preston city centre has been approved by members of the city council’s planning committee.

The Tithebarn project, conceived more than 10 years ago, includes a John Lewis department store, hotel, apartments, cinema, bars, restaurants, and bus station.

The scale of the development means that the decision will be referred to the Secretary of State. Government can approve Preston City Council’s decision or it can decide on the matter itself following a public enquiry.

Jim Carr, Chief Executive of Preston City Council said ‘This is a positive step forward but we now await the Government’s decision with baited breath. All the evidence shows that Tithebarn is the right development for Preston and for Lancashire. It is firmly in line with national, regional and local planning policy so there is simply no need for a public inquiry. We hope the Government will be persuaded by all the evidence and allows the Council to grant planning approval, as it will provide a much needed boost to the North West economy.’

Preston’s award winning pavilion at Avenham Park is to be officially opened by His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester.

The £2m building is the centrepiece of a £5m regeneration of Preston’s famous Victorian park and will be officially opened by His Royal Highness on Tuesday 23rd June 2009.

The pavilion sits in glorious surroundings on the banks of River Ribble. It has already won a Civic Trust award for design, and civic leaders are delighted it will be officially opened by The Duke of Gloucester who is also an architect.

Avenham Park is Preston’s flagship park located in Preston City Centre. During 2008, the park underwent significant restoration with a £5m Heritage Lottery funded project. This saw the building of the new Avenham Park pavilion, improved drainage, planting as well the restoration of park ornaments and features.

The pavilion is fully open to the public and has a café, function room meeting room and offices. It was designed by architect Ian McChesney following a national competition run by the Royal Institute of British Architects. In March 2009, the pavilion won a national Civic Trust Award.

The 2009 Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards ceremony will be held at Ribby Hall Village on June 10.

Businesses shortlisted include:

Bed and Breakfast/Guest Accommodation of the Year:

• The Ashton, Lancaster
• The Cartford Inn, Little Eccleston
• Howarth House, St Annes
• Little Stubbins Bed and Breakfast, Claughton-on-Brock

Small Hotel of the Year

• Crofters Hotel, Garstang
• Mytton Fold Hotel and Golf Complex, Langho
• West Tower Country House Hotel, Aughton

Large Hotel of the Year

• Best Western Premier Leyland Hotel, Leyland
• The Midland Hotel, Morecambe
• Preston Marriott Hotel

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year

• Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk
• Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Rossendale
• Lancaster Canal Packet Boats
• Old Holly Farm, Garstang

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year

• Blackpool Tower & Circus
• Blackpool Zoo
• Pleasure Beach, Blackpool
• WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre, Near Ormskirk

Taste Lancashire Award

• The Carmen Rose, Ribchester
• The Fisherman’s Retreat, Rossendale
• Homestead Farm’s Shop, Holmeswood
• La Locanda Ristorante Italiano, Gisburn

Business Tourism Award of the Year

• Pleasure Beach, Blackpool
• Preston Marriott Hotel
• Ribby Hall Village, Wrea Green

Sustainable Tourism Award

• Clough Bottom Farm Cottages, Bashall Eaves
• Malkin Tower Farm Holiday Cottages, Blacko
• Number One, South Beach, Blackpool
• Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool

Access for All Tourism Award

• Grand Theatre, Blackpool
• Oswaldtwistle Mills Shopping Village
• Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool
• Wyresdale Wheels for All Partnership, Wyre

Best Tourism Experience of the Year

• Dukes at Williamson Park, Lancaster
• Farmaggedon at Farmer Ted’s Farm Park, Ormskirk
• Ribble Valley Food Trail
• Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool

Lancashire’s famous Myerscough Agricultural College plays host to a spectacular indoor event, as the North West of England Tractor Show takes place on Saturday and Sunday 13th & 14th June 2009.

Set in the international arena at Myerscough’s main campus, this 2-day event is a full weekend of classic & vintage farm machinery nostalgia. All makes of veteran, vintage and classic tractors will be on display, alongside the specialist spares traders including Fergiland, Old 20 Parts CO, Dunlop Tractor Spares, Frank Foot and Charnleys etc. So those searching for that elusive part should be sure to find what they are looking for!

And it’s not just veterans and classics at the show: leading tractor manufactures including Massey Ferguson and McCormick etc will be proudly displaying their latest top of the range tractors.

During the show there will be model displays, both shop-bought and scratch-built, specialist book dealers, toy traders, Agri-jumble, clothing and farm memorabilia. There will also be a big indoor display area for farm models. Following last years success, the popular tractor pullers are back with a static display from the locally based “North West Tractor Pullers Club”, which will include international prize winning pullers.
.
From 10.30am, on the Saturday morning, HJ Pugh & Co is holding a vintage auction sale, where visitors will have the chance to bid for classic and vintage tractors, old farm implements, agricultural bygones and obsolete spares. For further information on auction entries, please call Pugh’s on 01531 631122.

Organised by Mark Woodward, the tractor show is only in it’s second year, but last year’s event exceeded expectations with literally thousand of visitors and this year looks set to be even better.

The North West of England Tractor Show opens from Saturday 13th June 9:00–5:00pm and Sunday 14th June 9:30–4:30pm. Admission prices are: Adult £6.00, under 14’s £2.50. Refreshments are available from the bar and restaurant and there is camping and caravanning on site for the two days. With plenty of free parking, Myerscough College is just off the A6, at Bilsborrow, Preston.

For further information on taking part, contact Mark Woodward on 01253 407779 or 07768 741610.

Scottish singer and songwriter Paolo Nutini has rescheduled his concert at Preston’s 53 Degrees.

The concert, originally scheduled to take place on May 3 2009, will now take place on June 11.

The Camelot Theme Park has been saved from permanent closure.

In February 2009 the theme park in Charnock Richard was placed into receivership by owners Prime Resorts.

The park has just been purchased by the Carlisle-based Story Group. They have formed a new leisure company, Knights Leisure, to run it.

Camelot will reopen on May 23 2009.

£8million of regeneration funding has been announced by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), to create a major new natural visitor attraction on a former gravel extraction site near Preston, Lancashire.

Funding for the Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Reserve project has been granted under ‘Newlands’– a £59million, NWDA and Forestry Commission programme to transform brown field land into durable community woodland, which act as catalysts for economic, social and environmental gain.

The Newlands partners will now work with Lancashire Wildlife Trust (the site owners) to transform the 106 hectare site into a premier wetland and woodland nature reserve, which is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people from across England’s Northwest and inject an economic boost to the local area and the region as a whole.

As well as building on the site’s existing natural assets to create a wealth of habitats (including lakes, reed beds, flower-rich grassland and a connection to 66 hectare of adjacent semi-natural ancient woodland), work on Brockholes will also include the creation of a major new visitor centre. The design of this cluster of buildings is based on an ancient marshland village, and the buildings will float on one of the site’s lakes, allowing visitors to feel as close to the water environment as possible.

Designed by Adam Khan Architects, the sustainably-built visitor centre (which is known as ‘A Floating World’) will include a shop and restaurant (specializing in local produce) education and exhibition areas and event space. The site is expected will generate sufficient income to be sustainable from day one of opening, securing the long-term future of the whole reserve.

Work will start on site in Spring 2009, and the construction of A Floating World will commence in late 2009. The completed reserve and visitor centre is expected to be open for visitors by 2011.