Sector Focus

Strawberry Field

Strawberry Field is owned by The Salvation Army and has been since it opened in 1936 as a Children’s Home. As a teenager John Lennon discovered Strawberry Field, jumping over the wall to play in the gardens. Lennon grew so fond of the grounds that he wrote the famous Beatles song Strawberry Fields Forever.

Since the release of the hit, visitors have come to the gates and following the closure of the children’s home in 2005, The Salvation Army opened a visitor centre to welcome them inside. The attraction as we know it now opened in 2019, which gives a worldwide audience a view beyond the gates, letting visitors walk the fantastic grounds, buy souvenirs, enjoy delicious cakes at the café, and learn the history of Strawberry Field, The Salvation Army and John Lennon’s introduction to Strawberry Field, alongside famous memorabilia. Entry to the visitor exhibition is £10.95 for adults and is free for children.

It is free for everyone to enter the gardens and to view the Lennon Wired exhibition. The art exhibition has been created using segments from the original microphone leads that John Lennon used to record his 1971 song, Imagine, alongside Yoko Ono. The artwork was created by artist James Wilkinson and is for sale, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Steps to Work programme.

Lesley Theadorus, Public Fundraiser for Strawberry Field says; ‘The true part of Strawberry Field is what we do downstairs, in our Learning Centre.’

Strawberry Field runs their own learning programme called Steps to Work for young vulnerable adults. The programme is an eighteen month learning programme, the first eight weeks includes teaching the young people life skills, such as money management, CV skills, basic maths and English, following this, trainees work a twelve week placement within Strawberry Field. Young people are then placed with Strawberry Field’s partners in the Liverpool City Region in cafés, nurseries, schools etc.

‘We are keen to work with organisations and businesses to offer placements for our trainees, in every industry.’

Finally, trainees are given a further opportunity for another twelve week placement in a different industry, which gives the trainees more opportunity to gain further work experience. At the end of the eighteen month programme, all trainees are work ready and are invited along to Job Club, which takes place every Thursday.

‘Over 60% of our trainees are in paid employment at the moment.’

‘This is an exciting time for Strawberry Field, we have our graduation coming up which are held four times a year, we’re also stepping out into another region with a pop-up programme running in the Wirral from the end of October.’

Strawberry Field is very keen to work with corporate partners who want to fulfil their CSR policy, and work with a charity and individuals to help fundraise and take part in events. In 2022 Strawberry Field, have done a Cathedral abseil, a skydive, and a trek in Morocco similar events are planned for 2023.

This year, Strawberry Field is excited to present an evening of seasonal music, carols and readings to celebrate Christmas at The Auditorium, M&S Bank Arena on 27 November. Proceeds from the concert will support the Steps to Work programme. See Strawberry Field’s social media for ticket information.

For further information you can contact Lesley on lesley.theodorus@salvationarmy.org.uk or follow Strawberry Field’s Socials Facebook @StrawberryFieldLiverpool, Instagram @strawberryfieldliverpooluk, Twitter @strawberryfield. You can also donate here: https://donate.salvationarmy.org.uk/32

Roy Castle Lung Foundation

The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is the only UK lung cancer charity supporting people and families living with lung cancer.

Claire Kelly, head of Corporate Partnerships, said; Over the last thirty years, we’ve been campaigning to get a national lung health screening programme rolled out and very, very hot off the press yesterday and it's actually been put forward to government now.

‘We're just actually waiting for an announcement from Department of Health that that it is going to happen, which will be absolutely amazing because currently there's no national screening programme for lung cancer.’

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer, it kills more than breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer put together. Claire’s role is around awareness and education working with different corporate businesses across the whole of the United Kingdom.

‘Sadly coming out of the COVID pandemic lung cancer rates are getting higher and higher and there's a number of reasons for that. Most people are putting it down to think they've got long COVID because some of the signs and symptoms such as a continuous cough.

They are self diagnosing themselves. A lot of people aren't going to the GP. So really the awareness and education that we can do across these businesses and explain some of the signs and symptoms and lung cancer Awareness Month is in November.’

Roy Castle runs workshops, virtually and face-to-face, ‘any help or support that we can do for any of the businesses that are part of Knowsley Chamber. We can run some workshops, be it virtually or face to face. And because everything that we've done, there's always been at least one person that's taken something away, if not for themselves, then could be for the mum, the dad, the Nana, the granddad or brother or sister.’

Roy Castle has a full calendar of events coming up over the next three months.

“Coming up on the 22nd of October, we've actually got our Spooky Welly walk, which is our flagship event over in Sefton Park. We normally have about 7000 people attending, that's one of our biggest fundraising events.

‘Moving into November we've got our Lung Cancer Awareness Month campaign and that's going to be called on the right path and it's going to be taking people through the pathway really of what they need to do, to get early diagnosis and what should be happening. We have our Strictly Come Dancing event in Liverpool, which is the biggest one we have ever done. This year we have 450 people already attending it at the Adelphi Hotel.’

‘In December we have our celebrate a life service at Saint George's Hall in Liverpool and our Santa Sing along. Which is a really lovely event as well.”

Throughout the year The Roy Castle Lung Foundation runs Virtual Memory events, for friends and families to remember those they’ve lost, and their annual Christmas Cards and Gifts are available online, and in their stores across the North West; Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation online shop (shoproycastle.org)

Their targeted long health cheque programmes are local programmes and their community engagement are about to start a six week roadshow.

‘So if there's any Chamber Members or family members who've been invited forward for a long health screening in the local community please, please go.

What we don't want to have to happen is people ignore these signs, not go for their lung cancer screening programme. And then months down the line are actually faced with the terminal diagnosis and sadly, we see too much of that.

So if there's anything at all you can do it’s, just make yourself familiar, share our messages follow us on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter, share our story, share our messages, they're helping us save lives as well, and that's how we can all work together.'

The Write Angle - Collaboration remains critical in difficult times

As winter begins we find ourselves in the middle of further economic turmoil. Erratic shifts in Government economic strategy are adding to the uncertainty and worry faced by businesses, charities and our wider communities. During COVID-19 we saw a huge spirit of collaboration between local authorities, public and health bodies, charities and private businesses. They offered tangible help and support to the most vulnerable among us.

However, the financial pressures across the board are making life more and more difficult for both individuals and organisations. With the cost of energy soaring and the NHS almost falling over, we all face a challenging few months.

In the last few weeks the Chamber has reached out to our charity members. During the pandemic we saw just how much the third sector plays a pivotal role in holding together the fabric of our society. Now they are worried about the coming months. In many cases their reserves are low and with so many people struggling they are likely to see a fall in donations over the winter. Higher fuel bills means discretionary spend will fall. People do want to give but when they are struggling to heat and light their homes they may have to make hard choices.

Our charitable sector plays a critical role in addressing grassroots poverty, which has grown steadily over the past decade and is now accelerating. They also help fill the gap in the provision of services for people with mental health challenges for which there is now unprecedented demand. At Knowsley Chamber we have launched a new initiative, and are currently collecting and collating information on how businesses are helping their local communities after which we will devise a strategy to support that effort. In the interim the Chamber’s Board of Directors ratified a decision so that each member of our staff can undertake a day’s volunteering that will be fully paid.

And the private businesses that create jobs and prosperity in our economy are also enduring a difficult period. Finance directors are crunching numbers as they grapple with rising energy and input costs. We have been made aware that some investment projects that were ready to go are now being put on hold.

Amid the worry and the gloom, the spirit and optimism that saw us through the pandemic is still there. Liverpool city region’s medium to long-term fundamentals are good. We have a diverse business base with particular strengths in areas such as automotive, advanced manufacturing, logistics, construction and health and life sciences. Liverpool City Region Freeport is due for imminent launch and I think that will offer some valuable opportunities for business growth and investment.

We can do a lot here in the city region. We have the drive, ambition and ingenuity to succeed. But we still need support from Government. Our transport infrastructure is in a poor state. The situation with the Avanti train service between Liverpool and London is just awful, and trying to travel cross country is challenging . People just cannot rely on the rail system right now. I have spoken to a number of business people who are using their cars to go to London when they would normally take the train. Our transport system is currently not fit for purpose.

Here at the Chamber we are also joining in the lobbying effort to persuade the Government to support the fantastic regeneration efforts of Knowsley Council with Levelling Up funding. Knowsley has a strong business base but it remains one of the most deprived boroughs in the country. It was a mystery to all of us why we missed out on the initial rounds of Levelling Up money. I have written three letters urging the Government to offer support in the next round of funding.

However, the lack of cash from Whitehall hasn’t stopped the regeneration momentum. In Prescot we are seeing a cultural and economic renaissance centred around the opening of the £38m Shakespeare North Playhouse. It has brought the town back to life in so many ways. And the council is continuing to step up to the plate with major projects in Kirkby town centre, in Halewood and in Huyton that will make a difference to peoples’ lives. It has just acquired the former Boots building in Huyton village centre and has appointed Liverpool-based MAKE CIC, which has created thriving spaces for ‘makers’ and artists in Liverpool and Wirral. MAKE will manage the property and create a ‘maker space’. This will provide a collaborative hub for making, learning, exploring and sharing.

Collaboration is not just vital at a local level, it also needs to happen at a national level. We are more than playing our part here on the ground. Government needs to step up and support us and help us reach our potential.