Executive Member Report to the Council Council 19th September 2012 AGENDA ITEM 5(e) CABINET MEMBER FOR TOURISM AND CULTURE – COUNCILLOR CAIN Illuminations The Illuminations and the centenary switch-on ceremony were extremely well received and delivered extensive positive publicity for Blackpool, including a lengthy feature that was broadcast on Radio on the morning after switch-on The Illuminations are the subject of the last in the series of books on key tourism assets and this will be formally launched in early October Arts A consortium made up of Blackpool Council, Blackpool Coastal Housing Association, Merlin Entertainments Group, Wyre Council, and the Grand Theatre has made a successful bid to the Arts Council of England securing the maximum award possible of £3m from the Creative People and Places Programme The consortium’s proposal, entitled ‘Playground of Wonders, Daring Delights’, will enable people in Blackpool and Wyre to experience high-quality arts events and activities, which celebrate and build on our seaside entertainment heritage, magnificent venues and stunning coastal and natural landscape As well as addressing inequalities in cultural participation, the programme will enable local arts organisations to become more sustainable The consortium, chaired by Blackpool Coastal Housing Association, is now working on a detailed three-year business plan that has to be approved by the Arts Council before the full award can be drawn down Heritage The Blackpool, ‘Wonderland of the World’ exhibition, opened at the Wellington Arch in London at the start of July and ran throughout the period of the Olympic Games The exhibition, undertaken in partnership with English Heritage, provided an invaluable opportunity to publicise the on-going restoration and development work at two of Blackpool’s most iconic buildings, the Winter Gardens and Blackpool Tower The exhibition featured original artefacts from the former Tower Company Collection, which is now in the ownership of Blackpool Council The exhibition has now closed, but there are plans to bring it back to Blackpool for local people to enjoy The Blackpool programme of Heritage Open Days took place at the start of September Co-ordinated by Blackpool Council in partnership with Blackpool Civic Trust, the programme has grown from very small beginnings into one of the largest in the country This year there are two very welcome returners to the programme, Blackpool Tower and the Pleasure Beach This is part of a national programme of events, with everything free to the public In previous years our programme has attracted in excess of 8,000 visits Leisure Centres During 2012 over 100 national, regional and local sports events have taken place in the town, the sports events calendar is packed full of events in sports such as cycling, swimming, hockey, badminton, table tennis, football and martial arts and the summer months have in particularly been busy in relation to sports events To name but a few, Palatine Leisure Centre hosted a British Cycling National Series event in July, which saw over 100 of the countries top women and junior cyclists take part in a series of races, in addition a regional British Triathlon event was also held at the centre In August, Stanley Park hosted a British Cycling North of England Region BMX event for the first time The newly formed Blackpool BMX, which has already in excess of 80 members took a lead in organising the event, with many children and young people from Blackpool competing Such national and regional level events are significant for the local economy as competitors, officials and spectators from across the country and region visit the town often for an extended weekend and take in the many attractions the town has to offer In addition, a number of mass participation events have featured on the calendar, with the majority being organised with local sports clubs, which gives local people the opportunity to participate in sport Palatine Leisure Centre and Blackpool Sports Centre both hosted Olympic themed open days in the run up to the Olympics, where over a 1000 people took part in a variety of sports and activities Blackpool Sports Centre and Stanley Park Arena has also hosted a number of school sports events which include the annual Blackpool Youth Games, the Lancashire Primary School Youth Games and Lancashire Disability Youth Games all of which have given local young people the opportunity to take part in a large scale multi sport festival of sport in the Olympic year Children across Blackpool have been taking up sport in huge numbers this summer, with the London 2012 Olympics being cited as a major reason Inspired by the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Jessica Ennis, children in Blackpool have been making the most of Blackpool’s three leisure centres at Moor Park, Palatine and Blackpool Sports Centre, as well as many of its outdoor activity areas In the first four weeks of the school summer holidays between 23rd July and 17th August, Junior Sports Camps have seen an increase of 250 children per week, from 3553 in the four weeks of last year, to 4778 in 2012 Cycling and swimming have been the big winners this summer, with 620 people using the Palatine Cycle Track, up 50% from last year Almost 3000 children have also taken to the water at Moor Park and Palatine Leisure Centres over the last four weeks, with swimming up by 10% for all ages Parks Development (Stanley Park) Stanley Park’s Cocker Memorial Clock Tower has recently undergone a refurbishment programme, including repairs to the roof, replacement of lead flashing and pointing of masonry Now watertight, work will focus on repairs to the clock mechanism The tower, constructed of Portland Stone, was built in 1927 following a design competition, which attracted hundreds of submissions The winning design was supervised by Professor Budden from the architectural division at Liverpool University A number of interpretation boards were installed in 2009 by Blackpool Civic Trust to highlight the importance of the 27-metre tower and its design, which includes lion’s head drinking fountains, bronze-sheathed entrance doors, 7-foot clock dials and oval areas of Blackpool As part of the Blackpool Civic Trust Civic Week, a Scarecrow Festival was held within Green Flag Award winning Salisbury Woodland on 29th-30th June Organised by the Friends of Stanley Park and Blackpool Civic Trust, the event was supported by local businesses, charities, schools and other voluntary organisations that made over 130 scarecrows to exhibit Scarecrows of every shape, size and type could be found as well as fun sweet and toy stalls The event was such as huge success it is hoped it will become a permanent fixture in the parks annual events calendar Libraries In January, the Arts Council launched a major piece of research entitled ‘Envisioning the Library of the Future’ to inform their future library strategies Phases and of this work are now completed whilst phase is currently being implemented A full report will be published in October 2012 Initial findings suggest that over the next 10 years the core purpose of libraries will largely remain the same enabling people to access books, reading and other forms of knowledge, the provision of quality-assured information, support for learning and literacy The critical difference in the future will be the social and technological context in which libraries will be working and what that means for delivering the core purpose for example, the expansion of e-books, e-information and e-learning whilst ensuring socially-inclusive service provision for our communities Arts Council England has recently announced £6m of additional National Lottery funding for the arts that will be ring-fenced for libraries from September 2012 This fund will support projects that stimulate ambitious and innovative partnerships between libraries and artists and/ or arts organisations, encouraging communities to participate in cultural activities In the meantime libraries can apply for Grants for the Arts funding The Arts Council will not fund core library service provision Developing Sport, Physical Activity and Play Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain, in which British cycling heroes Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish competed, arrived once again in Blackpool on Wednesday 12th September This year’s Tour of Britain was expected to be the biggest ever, due to the recent successes of Great British cyclists in both the Tour de France and the 2012 Olympics The stage started in Carlisle and finished on the Promenade opposite Blackpool Tower The 2012 event ran from Sunday 9th to Sunday 16th September 2012 The Grand Depart took place in Ipswich, with Suffolk and Norfolk hosting the opening stage on Sunday 9th September From there The Tour visited Nottingham, Knowsley and Merseyside, Scotland, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Wales and Devon before the challenging final stage in the Surrey Hills, finishing on Guildford’s uphill, cobbled High Street on Sunday 16 th September One hundred of the world’s best riders tackled climbs in the Peak District, mid-Wales and Dartmoor to name, but three of the locations The Tour takes on its journey through England, Scotland and Wales London 2012 Paralympics Three local athletes flew the flag for Blackpool in the 2012 London Paralympic games Justine Moore and David Heaton both took part in the in wheelchair fencing Justine, 20, competed in the Women’s Team Foil, Team Epée and Individual Epée events, whilst David, 39, competed in the Men’s Team Foil This was Justine first Paralympic games, David though took part in his fifth Paralympics having previously competed in the Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens games Despite missing out on winning a medal on the track, Shelly Woods showed once again her skill, courage and determination as an athlete, she deservedly took the silver medal in the wheelchair marathon on the Mall, taking Team GB’s final medal of the Games in London The three athletes are no strangers to the excellent leisure facilities in the town as they have been visiting them regularly as part of their training programmes and in the run up in to what was arguably the biggest ever Paralympics ... be working and what that means for delivering the core purpose for example, the expansion of e-books, e-information and e-learning whilst ensuring socially-inclusive service provision for our communities... books, reading and other forms of knowledge, the provision of quality-assured information, support for learning and literacy The critical difference in the future will be the social and technological... Suffolk and Norfolk hosting the opening stage on Sunday 9th September From there The Tour visited Nottingham, Knowsley and Merseyside, Scotland, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Wales and Devon before