The Chamber

Here’s a little game to pass the time on your designated break today (as it’s just started chucking it down it doesn’t look like a day for going out).

Flight of the Hamsters lets you fire be-goggled rodents through the air to see how far they can go. Bounce of various objects to go further and score more points. Good clean fun.

Play Flight of the Hamsters here.

Good friend of Liverpool Chamber John Haynes would like to draw your attention to the plight of some of Kenya’s children. He’s also looking for sponsors to help give them a better quality of life.

Find out more below.

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On Monday, March 10 traffic using North John Street will change direction to go south from Dale Street towards Victoria Street with the changes being implemented after the peak hour traffic.

To finalise the changes needed for traffic signals, new carriageway surfacing and road markings it will be necessary to close North John Street to traffic on Sunday, March 9, with the road reopening to allow traffic to use in its new direction on Monday.

On Thursday, March 13 the traffic flow in Stanley Street will be reversed so that vehicles will travel north from Victoria Street to Dale Street, with the changeover being implemented in mid-morning.  Stanley Street will therefore be closed from 9pm on Wednesday until 11am the following day. Access will be available for residents.

It is not possible to implement these changes on the same day as it would require a number of traffic signals to be turned off at the same time, meaning there would be a lack of pedestrian crossings in the area.

See a Google Map of the area here.

The British Chambers of Commerce are working with a company called Better Writing Skills to conduct a nationwide on-line survey of English literacy in the workplace. The company are working with Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce. 

“Research has shown that UK companies are losing billions of pounds of potential contracts due to poor literacy skills.  Many business owners and directors have said poorly written correspondence has influenced them not to do business with the writer or their company.  

Are you confident about your workforce’s grasp of English grammar? 

Do you think potential business is being lost owing to poorly written letters and emails?     

We would appreciate it if you would ask some of your staff to answer this very important survey. They will find ten multiple-choice questions that will assess their understanding of basic writing skills. (Please note that at no time do we ask for their personal or company name.  The only information required for the survey is their postcode, gender, education level and their status at work.)  Answering the questions will give your staff an instant result, and help provide us with a national percentage table of total scores achieved.” Please click here to go to the survey:  www.bwsbusiness.com

Interactive Marketing, as the official electronic media partner of internationalSPORTgroup, is offering Chamber members the chance to enjoy excellent corporate hospitality and world class squash at the Echo Arena Liverpool.

The 2008 Dunlop British Open will be staged in Liverpool from the 8th to 12th May as part of the city’s European Capital of Culture. Never in its seventy-six year history has the championships ever comprised so many potential winners.

Leading contenders for the men’s title will include three Egyptians: Amr Shabana, the World No.1 and World Champion, Ramy Ashour and Karim Darwish, two Frenchmen, Thierry Lincou and Gregory Gaultier, an Australian, David Palmer, and one English-man, the 2006 British Open Champion Nick Matthew.

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On Tuesday 26th February, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce hosted the first of its quarterly Construction and Development lunches for 2008 at the Liner Hotel.

Over two hundred guests from construction and related industries networked before lunch then they heard a talk from Joanne Jennings, CEO of Liverpool One. She described the scale of the site and gave an overview of the project and current work on the crucial countdown to the opening of phase one on 29th May.

The next Construction & Development lunch takes place on Wednesday 14 May at the Marriott Hotel when. The speaker will be Tom Venner of Land Securities , to book call Sue Platt or Melissa Bush on 0151 227 1234.

The second meeting of Liverpool’s very own CreativeCoffee Club is taking place on Thursday March 6 at Parr  Street Studios.

You may remember we raved about this event after the inaugural meeting late last year. CreativeCoffee Club is an informal and chatty event, part of a wider, global network of meetings. Its aims are to introduce creative ways of working and thinking and to provide a place for business people, academics, teachers, public sector workers and managers to network, exchange ideas and discuss how to foster creativity and innovation.

If you’d like to be involved, meet people from outside your own particular industry and have a relaxed chat that could take your work in a whole new direction, just come along. The event is free, there’s no need to book and all are welcome.

If you’re into that whole Facebook thing, you can register your interest on the event’s page, or find out more about the Creative Coffee Club in general here. But hey, don’t worry if Facebook isn’t your scene. Just come along anyway.

We have been alerted by a Chamber member of the latest Nigerian letter scam. The Chamber’s business Crime Direct Team advises that these letters change frequently but they all want the same information; Name, address, telephone number, company name & address.

There is also crime prevention advice about all manner crime including frauds and business fraud.

Once again, Liverpool Chamber would like to extend a warm welcome to all its newest members. As always, the businesses listed below represent the full spectrum of local industries. From solicitors to chauffeurs, training companies to tea manufactures, all of life is here.

These companies are now enjoying the range of benefits available to Chamber members, including free HR and legal support, money-saving services, fantastic networking opportunities, plus the support and representation of a nationally accredited chamber of commerce.

If all that’s making you a bit jealous, don’t despair, joining Liverpool Chamber couldn’t be easier.

See the full list of January’s new members below. They could be just the business partner you’re looking for.

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Liverpool Chamber is brining the British Chamber’s national conference to Liverpool’s new BT Convention Centre on Monday 28 April.

Guests may wish to stay in the city for one or two nights and will be looking for city centre hotels to suit a range of budgets.

Next week, our e-newsletter will be focusing on the conference. This is an opportunity for city hotels to promote their conference offers, free of charge to an audience of 7000 potential customers.

If you run a hotel, call Sue Platt on 0151 227 1234 at Liverpool Chamber by 4pm on Friday 29 February to be included in next week’s newsletter.