Another Tourism Attraction On Cumbria’s West Coast?

You never know, there may be another top attraction being unearthed as we speak. Archaeologists unearthing the remains of a Roman fort on the west coast of Cumbria have discovered what is believed to be a lost Roman harbour.

Serious digging taking place in Cumbria

Oxford Archaeology together with  a team of volunteers are excavating an extramural settlement at Maryport Roman fort.

This follows on from the discovery of what is believed to be an earlier fort and lost Roman harbour to the north of the site.  Site director John Zant said they were now trying to "piece together" the "complex story" of the site.

It is believed that the stone fort was founded before AD120, and experts think that it was an "integral part" in coastal defences extending down the Cumbrian coast from Hadrian's Wall. The project is exploring part of the fort's civilian settlement to "build up a picture" of what ordinary life was like.
The civilian settlement, which lies north-east of the fort, is believed to be the largest currently known along the Hadrian's Wall frontier.

Philanthropist Christian Levett, who is funding the project, said: "I'm particularly interested in the connections we're seeing across the Roman empire through the imported objects the team is finding such as amphorae, pottery and ornaments. Maryport is a remote but important part of the Roman world with a fascinating story. I'm looking forward to more information coming through as the team continues the detailed analysis after they leave the site."

The team has also found a variety of artefacts, including fragments of tableware imported from Gaul and the Rhineland, storage vessels that once contained Spanish olive oil and Gallic wines, fragments of glass vessels and several items of jewellery including a jet finger-ring and part of a decorated glass bangle.

Loss Of Cornish Blue Flag Status Described As “Devastating”

Cornwall's tourism boss has apologised to businesses after he admitted that administrative errors were behind the absence of Blue Flags in the county this year.

Cornwall's beaches will be "Blue Flagless"

Malcolm Bell, head of Visit Cornwall, said no applications were made for the prestigious Blue Flag status because of staff cutbacks. The admission by Mr Bell was at odds with a previous statement from Cornwall Council which claimed it had been too expensive to apply for Blue Flags.

Previously Porthtowan, Polzeath and Gyllyngvase beach at Falmouth had all enjoyed Blue Flag status. A hotelier from Falmouth described the loss of Blue Flag status as "devastating".

The awards scheme, which is overseen by charity Keep Britain Tidy, highlights those beaches which it believes offer the best facilities, cleanliness and the highest international standard of water quality.
Mr Bell said: "It's the law of unintended consequences - or a cock-up if you prefer. In 2011-12 when we had to take another round of cuts the decision was that we should retain as much marketing as possible and lost about a third of our staff."

One of the staff who went in the cuts had previously been responsible for making Blue Flag applications and nobody else stepped in to take on that role. Mr Bell said he had written to councils and businesses in the areas which have lost their Blue Flags to explain the situation.

He said that the deadline for applications had been in January when Visit Cornwall was in the middle of dealing with the worst storms in decades. Applications for Blue Flag status had previously been handled by the district councils and then Cornwall Council.

Visit Cornwall, part of Cornwall Development Company, the arms-length Cornwall Council organisation to promote the Cornish economy, took on the applications in 2011.
Mr Bell's admission appeared to be at odds with Cornwall Council's previous statement at the beginning of the month in response to questions about why there were no Blue Flag applications for Cornwall.

A Cornwall Council spokesman said: "Cornwall Council, along with other beach owners, has to pay to apply for Blue Flag status. Consequently, we will not be applying for the Blue Flag this season on any of the sites that formerly used to have the award (Gyllyngvase, Porthtowan and Polzeath).

“We will be replacing the Blue Flag with a Seaside Award on these sites for the forthcoming season."
The Seaside Award application costs £609 and is considered as a “stepping stone” towards attaining the Blue Flag award, which costs £838. Jayne Gray, secretary of the Falmouth and District Hotels Association (FDHA), said the loss of Blue Flag status undermined all the work being done by volunteers in Falmouth to keep the resort in pristine condition.

She said: "I think it's really sad. If they had told us in advance they were struggling either administratively or financially and let the FDHA know there would have been plenty of people to take it on. It was not finding out until too late that has devastated everybody."

Mrs Gray is working with others in the town as part of the Friends of Falmouth Bay group which has been out tidying the promenade and repainting seated areas. She said: "To find out we have lost the Blue Flag has taken the rug from under our feet."

Next year the applications for Blue Flag beaches are expected to be handled locally.

Extra Visitor Numbers Are The Best Publicity For Anglesey

They say that if you can point to increased visitor numbers, then in tourism terms, that is the best publicity of all. If that premise is true, then the beautiful island of Anglesey is set to have a pretty good summer.

Anglesey's visitors numbers are looking up

Tourism boosted the Anglesey economy by £256m last year thanks to an influx of extra visitors, new figures show. That figure was 4% up on the previous year bringing in an extra £10.8m, the STEAM tourism research programme found.

Visitor numbers on the island passed the 1.5 million mark last year and the number of people employed in the tourist industry has also increased. The study said the fine summer weather was a key factor in the success of the 2013 season.

Tourist spending went up right across the board, especially accommodation and food and drink, and there are now 4,043 jobs linked to tourism on Anglesey - an increase of 131 on two years ago.
Councillor Aled Morris Jones, cabinet member for tourism, said the island's stunning coastline and rich culture and heritage meant it had much to offer.  "These figures once again emphasise tourism's importance to the island and should be welcomed both in terms of the tourism industry and local economy," he said. "We're committed to building on this success and will continue to work closely with all sectors of the industry to ensure an even better summer this year."

STEAM is a model used by local authorities in Wales to measure tourism, which counts the number of visitors and how much they spend in an area.

                                                         All about Visiting Anglesey

Doubts Over RAF Waddington’s 2015 Air Show

Although this year’s show is going ahead as planned, the future of next year's Waddington Air Show is in doubt due to a £35m rebuild of the runway.

Doubts remain over Waddington's 2015 Air Show

Currently out to tender, the work will extend Waddington's 9,000ft runway by 528 ft and increase its operational life by 25 years.

Group Captain Richard Barrow said the work will not only create disruption for aircraft, but potential safety issues for the thousands of show spectators. Speaking on the first air show podcast, Gp Capt Barrow said: "I don't think I've really got all the information to make any promises either way at the moment.

"I need a bit of time to understand the impact of that and what the impact might be on 2015 for example. I'm working with the air show committee to really understand what that means at the moment."

During the work, aircraft will be forced to operate from other airfields, even though they will still be controlled from Waddington. There will be a considerable amount of construction machinery and the workers will be at the site to complete the work. Gp Capt Barrow said there were no guarantees that the comprehensive plan would run as smoothly as expected and there will be additional risks to identify.

The show attracted 145,000 visitors last year and its cancellation would have a significant impact on Lincoln's visitor economy. Last year's show also raised more than £375,000 for service charities and local worthy causes.

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and The Royal Air Force Association, which provide financial assistance to ex-servicemen, each received a whopping £135,000 donation after the show.
The Station Charities Fund, which disperses money to local charities, received £29,000, as did the Air Cadets Organisation and £50,000 was donated to Lincoln Bomber Command Memorial Fund.

                                                            Waddington Air Show 2014

Major Sherlock Holmes Exhibition In London This Autumn

Sherlock Holmes is being showcased in a major exhibition to be staged at the Museum of London this coming October reports the BBC, the first time since the Festival of Britain in 1951 that the famous detective has been showcased in this way.

We sometimes need to be reminded that Holmes is a fictional character, so real and professional have been the interpretations of the actors who have played him over the years. He was created in the mind of the Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and first appeared in the Strand magazine over 125 years ago.

One of the most famous literary characters ever created

Although he never existed, the Museum is calling him one of London’s most “iconic” figures and heart and soul is being put into the preparation of the exhibition. Holmes was once quoted as saying that "The air of London is the sweeter for my presence"

Curator Alex Werner said: "Sherlock Holmes was an incredibly, powerful, cultural, London icon. The main challenge was anything you select [for this exhibition] has nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes because he is a character, but on the other hand it has everything to do with him. Take the pipe. It's a minor object, but put it next to Sherlock Holmes it takes on a real life and we can draw on fantastic objects from around the world to tell the story of London."

The exhibition intends using Holmes as a "prism" to take a peek at the city itself,  and to have a closer look at the character's analytical mind, forensic science of the time, his Bohemian nature crossed with what being an English gentlemen meant in Victorian England.

It will also look at what possibly prompted the creation of the character, with the original pages from Edgar Allan Poe's hand-written manuscript The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) among the items that will be on display.

Considered by many to be the first detective story, Conan Doyle is known to have read it and the detective character C. Auguste Dupin was said to be one of his "boyhood heroes".

Strangely, he had initially intended Holmes to be a minor character in his own literary work, and hoped that people would be enthralled with his novels, plays and poetry. However,  it was the detective who attracted the crowds, initially through The Strand magazine, which had a weekly audience of about half a million people. He later completed 56 novels about the character.

Original drawings by Sidney Paget, who illustrated the stories in the magazine, feature in the exhibition alongside an oil painting of the author scribbling in his "ideas book".

Dr Pat Hardy the curator for paintings and prints has worked on the exhibition selecting images which represent Holmes' London. Dr Hardy said: "The urban landscape that was inhabited by that very famous character conveys an idea of London at the turn of the century - a very modern city - a large imperial network with efficient communication and transport networks.

"We have recreated the ideas of these journeys by some of the artwork.  He's always rattling up Holborn to get to King's Cross in the hansom cabs. Sherlock Holmes is a presence both seen and unseen in this city."

The idea for the show came from the success of the museum's pervious London "icon" shows on Jack the Ripper and Charles Dickens, but the fact that this is the first attempt at a fictional character makes things a little different.

Project manager Annette Day said: "It's been two years since we first had the idea, Dickens had proved very popular and we thought about how literature can help us understand the city. We really grasped the challenge and had to be really creative with the way we use and look at the objects."

Amongst the items on display will be an authentic collapsible top-hat which has been x-rayed so that people can see how it works, which Ms Day said mimics the "details and deductions" of Holmes. There is also a collection of shoes which Sherlock would have looked at and been able to deduce if the owners walked with a limp or not.

The exhibition also dedicates space to the character's life on stage and in film, including the Derek Rose camel dressing gown Benedict Cumberbatch wore in the BBC's most recent series of Sherlock.

The performances of actors gone by, including William Gillette, who was performing the character while Conan Doyle was still writing, and Jeremy Brett are also considered to see if they offer clues as to why Holmes has endured 125 years, being reinvented by every generation.

Mr Werner said: "The closest person to compare him with are the comic book heroes of the 20th Century, they've been revived and refreshed. Sherlock Holmes was a man of action and so he's a bit like a Batman, but earlier. He is one of London's icons, he helped to make London the way it is. He is the most famous Londoner who never lived and never died."

Just as Holmes would have wished, the Museum of London has promised more will be revealed before the exhibition opens on 17 October. It runs until the 12^th April next year

Learn more about this fascinating exhibition

Chelsea Flower Show To Have A World War I Theme

As a mark of respect for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, a number of garden designers are choosing to use the anniversary as a theme for their garden display at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show which starts on Tuesday 20^th May. One garden represents a landscape from northern France, complete with trenches and a mine crater filled with water.

How quickly the horticultural year goes!

Another theme that is striking a chord in this modern age is the growth of community gardens and how horticulture can help unemployed people find work.

For his part, BBC gardener Alan Titchmarsh has co-designed a garden to celebrate 50 years of the Britain in Bloom campaign. Asked if he had any last-minute changes to make to his and Kate Gould's display, called From the Moors to the Sea, he said: "No, no, no. We're all done - we finished just about end of Saturday and it's all settling now.  "And we've had a good nice quiet night and everything's sitting up. Very happy."

The garden includes a dry stone wall, which was dismantled from its original site in Yorkshire and reassembled in Chelsea.

The Queen will visit the show, at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London, later today Monday 19th, ahead of its opening to the public on Tuesday.

One of those still working on his feature on Monday morning was Chelsea first-timer, Hugo Bugg, 26. Chelsea first-timer Hugo Bugg - one of the youngest designers here at 26 - looks particularly anxious, pruner in hand, asking his assistants why things are not just so.

He has designed a Waterscape Garden, subtitled Embrace the Rain. It is intended to illustrate global water issues and demonstrate practical solutions for home gardeners and commercial landscapes.

The No Man's Land garden, designed by Charlotte Rowe, was inspired by images of World War One.  She has focused on the landscape of the Western Front in France and put together a modern representation of the area, showing how the natural environment has regenerated.

"My grandfather, who I was very close to, went over the top aged 19 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme," she said. "The idea behind it is that the land, No Man's Land, was fought over again and again with the front line moving very little, and the land got completely messed up and churned up.

"The concept is the healing of the land after severe conflict, and relating it to the human body and spirit. Plants in the garden were grown by injured soldiers during a programme of horticultural therapy.

Another exhibit celebrating Britain in Bloom is a garden made from recycled or donated materials, which was designed by renowned gardener Jon Wheatley and put together by unpaid volunteers.

A display called Reachout suggests that horticulture can improve the lives of young people struggling with drug addiction or unemployment, by providing them with work and inspiration.

The "Techno Allotment" by Leeds District Allotment Gardeners Federation highlights how communities can grow their own food cheaply and stylishly.
The show's organisers are also raising funds through their charitable arm to create more jobs over the next five years at Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens in Wisley, Surrey; Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire; Hyde Hall, Essex; and Rosemoor in Devon.

RHS director general, Sue Biggs, said: "Horticulture is a vibrant, challenging and diverse industry with great job prospects. Career paths include botanist, nursery staff, designer, florist, horticulturist, plant collector, landscape architect, entrepreneur, journalist, TV presenter and many more.

"We also know that more than 80% of secondary school teachers who discussed careers with their pupils said that they themselves were not aware of the vast opportunities offered by a career in horticulture."
 

The Chelsea Flower Show

Blackpool Still A UK Favourite, But Where Are The Foreign Tourists?

There has been a raft of information released over the last few days focusing on visitor numbers, with many areas celebrating increased figures across the board.  Foreign tourists brought in a record amount of money to the country last year, with visitors from China hitting the headlines. But the boom is not being felt on the Fylde coast, new research has claimed.

Can Blackpool attract more overseas visitors?

More than £20bn was pumped into the UK economy thanks to overseas visitors but hoteliers say foreign tourists are more likely to stay in London or the Lake District than come to Blackpool.

Blackpool can take comfort from the fact that it is still a top destination for UK tourists, but surprisingly did not feature in a list of the top 50 towns and cities to benefit from overseas holidaymakers released by the Office for National Statistics.

But hotel bosses say Blackpool, which has always relied far more on domestic tourism, could attract a wider range of visitors with the right marketing approach.

Mark Wilson, managing director of Sleepwell Hotels, which owns the Carousel, on New South Promenade, said the figures give reason to be optimistic.

He said: “From our experience, we don’t see a huge amount of overseas visitors coming into Blackpool. Where you see them, particularly Americans or the Japanese, what they tend to be going for is English heritage and history rather than a seaside holiday.

“But anything that drives holidaymakers in nationally to the UK has to be a good thing. I was in Edinburgh last week and I wouldn’t had that down as somewhere you would see a huge range of foreign tourists but it was packed with them – the question is how do we get more of that?”

Two cities in the North West of England appeared in the top five list of destinations for foreign visitors, with Manchester and Liverpool making a combined £630m from them last year.

Blackpool hotel bosses say that the town needs to find a way to encourage those tourists to take a trip to the seaside. Gary Pretty, chairman of the Blackpool Combined Association, which represents traders and hoteliers, said: “People might be visiting Blackpool but they certainly aren’t staying here. When people come from abroad they tend to stay down south and don’t really come north. We have got to let them know what we have got.”

Blackpool Tourism

Hull Could Become A Top Movie Location

It looks as though Hull is already reaping the benefits of its high profile success in being chosen as the 2017 UK City of Culture, as representatives from the country's main film organisation have visited the city as it looks to put itself on the UK movie map.

Hull could have a bright future as a film location

The visit by a team from the British Film Institute (BFI) comes just weeks after the city's Old Town was transformed into wartime London during a four-week shoot for a new feature film. Hundreds of people from Hull also worked as extras on the set of Girls' Night Out, which charts the night the Queen and her sister Princess Margaret escaped incognito onto the streets of London to celebrate VE Day.

BFI officials met the team behind the successful 2017 bid and local film-makers to discuss the development potential for the industry in Hull. Also discussed  were forging new links with partner bodies such as Creative Europe, the BBC, Screen Yorkshire, Channel 4, the Arts Council and the British Council were also on the agenda.

Paul Dennis, of the Hull Independent Producers group, which is a new body aiming to help create a film industry in the city, said the BFI visit was a chance to look at what opportunities were available. He said: "We set the group up to ask the question 'can Hull have a film industry?'

"What steps do we have to take to establish one here and what connections do we have to make? We already have so much creative talent here, we need to look at ways of bringing it together and using it to establish an industry. Visits such as this from the BFI are really useful because it helps us make those contacts and we can ask their expertise for what we need to do next."

Councillor Steven Bayes, Hull City Council's portfolio holder for visitor destination and City of Culture, said there was real potential for Hull to follow other cities, such as Belfast, which is now a successful hub for film and TV production for hit shows such as Game Of Thrones.

He said: "We already have a lot of the elements in place here that we need. We have a university that produces a lot of highly skilled people, the growing digital capability and a group of really talented people that can help the creative industry take off here, just like it has in Belfast.

"It's about pulling all those parts of the jigsaw together and creating an environment where it can flourish. City of Culture is good for that because it puts the focus on the city and helps people think of Hull as a place that's good for the creative and digital industries."

BFI partners such as the Film Hub North, Into Film and Creative Skillset also joined the meeting to discuss a potential film programme for 2017, including productions and festivals for the cultural year.

Andrew Dixon, the 2017 bid adviser, said: "Through people such as J Arthur Rank and the Rank organisation, Hull has made a significant contribution to the film industry and, with the UK City of Culture 2017 title, it gives us the opportunity to develop contemporary film- making while looking at our rich film archive.

"Our priority is to engage young people and communities in the film industry and explore the opportunities available to them."