VEGAS..........

WE ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GORMLEY CAMPAIGN REACHES TARGET £2M.

THE trust founded to keep Antony Gormley's Another Place artwork in Merseyside has reached its £2m fund-raising target.
Anthony Gormley with one of his self portrait sculptures


Now Another Place Ltd is putting the finishing touches to a revised planning application which, members hope, will win approval from councillors in Sefton.
Senior figures at the trust, founded last summer to raise the estimated £2m needed to keep the 100 iron men on Crosby beach, have confirmed all the money is in place.

But at least £1m of that, from regional quango the Northern Way, must be spent before the end of this financial year.
Sefton Council is also planning a visitor centre close to the statues, along with improved disabled access to the beach.
The statues had been due to be removed late last year, and Another Place Ltd had applied for permission to keep them in place longer while it completed its fundraising drive.
The planning application was rejected by councillors swayed by claims that they posed a health and safety risk.
Another Place almost immediately began a planning appeal, which ensured the statues stayed in place until now, backed by the Daily Post's Save our Statues campaign.
But it has still been seeking the funds to ensure it can afford to buy the statues and maintain them. They had been due to go to New York.
A report due to go to Sefton's cabinet next week seeks authorisation to present the new plans within the next month.

Laurie Peake, from Another Place Ltd, said: "The grant from the Northern Way has made up the bulk of the available funds, but we have now secured money from other sources, too.
"We can't say where from at the moment, but we are now working towards submitting a revised planning application within the next few weeks which we hope will address the concerns people had when the previous application was submitted."
Sefton Council's proposals are designed to support the "permanent installation" of the statues, the report by chief executive Graham Haywood states.
It adds: "Discussions with the objectors have been held to mitigate their concerns.
"Their views will be taken into account in the planning application that will be submitted later this month.
"Ideas are being developed for minor infrastructure improvements to cater for additional visitors, including a small visitor centre at or close to the coastguard station."
His report also raises the potentially contentious issue of charging people to use the nearby Hall Road car park, arguing that "it is important to make proper provision for management and maintenance of the beaches and promenade as a result of increased usage due to visitors."
He added: "Another Place is a valuable attraction in its own right, and has alerted many people to the importance of the coastal park and beaches.
"It would be a great boost to the sub-region to secure the permanent installation for the Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008."
When the Another Place Trust was established, it was estimated that more than 600,000 people had visited the statues since they arrived in July, 2005.
Their continued presence in the area is expected to add millions to the economy.

The Daily Post's Save our Statues campaign has attracted widespread support, including backing from Tony Blair and Gormley himself.
Gormley said: "This is their home now. They have more of a presence in Crosby. It's an unusual beach. It's not pretty, it's nitty gritty and it is more fitting.
"I also want to see them settled in my native country."
At the planning meeting which rejected the extension for the statues, TV presenter and councillor Debi Jones led the objectors.
She later claimed she felt she had been "vilified" and said she would like the statues to stay, if they became more accessible and safer.

This really has to be the best news for Another Place even though I would have loved it on the Wirral! Also an excuse to put another couple of photies on the blog!

* COUNCILLORS in Lancashire behind a cheeky bid to get the statues moved to one of the county's beaches have admitted defeat.
Cllr Chris Cheetham, who represents Skelmersdale, on Lancashire county council, and is its culture supremo, had begun looking for funding to move the statues when Sefton refused planning permission.
But yesterday, he said: "I am not hopeful we will get the installation. It would have looked really good in Morecambe Bay."
There is still talk in Morecambe of replicating Another Place, but with 100 statues of the town's best-known son, the late Eric Morecambe.

*I do hope they are taking the p___!

36 SILLY SAYINGS!

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence you tried.

When all else fails, read the directions.

Welcome to Hell...Here's your accordion.

He who laughs last probably doesn't understand the joke.

Never hit a guy with glasses. Always use your fists.

The only time I open my mouth is to change feet.

Happiness can't buy money.

True friends always stab you in the front.

I'll have to think twice about it before I give it a second thought.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry.

The meek shall inherit the Earth after we're done with it.

A coward is a hero with a wife, kids and a mortgage.

Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at.

Conscience: What hurts when everything else feels so good.

Help stamp out, eliminate and abolish redundancy!

You're schizophrenic? Gee, that makes four of us.

Why is the word 'Abbreviation' so long?

If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.

Skydiving - Good to the last drop.

If a tree fell on the florist, would he make any sound?

A penny saved is a congressional oversight.

Error. Keyboard not found. Press any key to continue...

A day without sunshine is like ... night.

Floggings will continue until morale improves.

All's well that ends.

It's not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.

An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

What if there were no hypothetical situations?

Dyslexics of the world untie!

A cat will blink when struck with a hammer

Honesty is the best policy. But insanity is a better defense.

Gravity is a myth, the Earth sucks

 

THANKS TO CP, THEY MAKE ME LAUGH AS WELL!

2006/2007 WELL EVERYBODY ELSE DOES!

I'm trying not to get in to the words NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS because I really believe they are only be there to be broken.
There's already many plans made for 2007, some I know about and inevitably with a forthcoming birthday with an O in then some I don't.
Then there's plans that will be formulated on the spot and a load of impulsive things too.
Then there's the ones I'm not telling you about.....No way! They will be the ones that you'll never know whether they were done or not! Not telling you because they might be about you.........Well they might.
So Vegas in February - a good place to start........All five resident Cirque du Soleil shows in just a six night stay!!!! That will be MEGA. Flights, hotel <> and ALL the shows booked. That should be accompanied by the sound of a creaking Visa card! Loads more about all that as the year progresses, I guarantee that!
Before that and I suppose should have come first 'the BIG 5O' which when all is said and done I am actually quite looking forward to. Sounds better than 49 anyway! If it turns out to be just half as much a family thing as Christmas then I will be over the moon.
Later in the year the only thing definitely going to take place is the Annual pilgrimage to the venue of the Labour Party Conference, this year the least popular, Bournemouth and with the threat of WKD coming with me, so she can go to Monkey World, that may even make it (or break?) worthwhile.
I guess if we have a chance to go to Krakow again then we will and visits I guess to selective venues in support of RAFMAN and IMPULSE KING.
It's not all about the visits and the travelling though, it's to do with the way you feel about doing the things that you do!
So there will still be the emotional, the routine, the ordinary and the extraordinary and as long as I have my health and family then we will be looking back in 12 months time in the same way as we look back now on 2006 - a truly great year in a number of ways, but because you never move forward by looking back that is now reduced to key words...............in no particular order




Devon, Amsterdam, Manchester, Krakow, Disneyland Paris, Friends, Family, Brize Norton, WKD, RAFMAN, IMPULSE KING, GRAMBO, Work, Labour Party, The Open, Birthdays, Another Place, Ferries, Samaritans, Christmas, Pictures, Music, Computers <> Internet

TOKYO, Jan 1 (Reuters Life!)

A troupe of dancers in skin-colored body suits had Japanese national broadcaster NHK apologizing to viewers for what seemed to be a full-scale Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction during its New Year's Eve music special.
The dancers, who all appeared to be topless and wore skimpy bikini-style bottoms and feathered head-dresses, covered the stage during a performance by singer DJ OZMA, prompting about 250 viewers to phone in and complain.
"The dancers were wearing body suits, but we apologize for any misunderstanding," a presenter announced toward the end of the 57th annual "Red and White Song Contest."
"I guess it looked a bit too real," local media quoted the singer as telling reporters after the show, which regularly tops viewer ratings on New Year's Eve in Japan.

This is how IMPULSE KING saw in the New Year!
Each to their own I say!

FISH AND CHIP BOAT!!

Title and picture may be baffling to some but picture downloaded at random using
www.photobucket.com

TOTALLY RANDOM

Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?

One fifth of all the birds in the world are in Brazil.

Bacteria is sometimes the only culture some people have.

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.

Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me !

A comedian does funny things. A good comedian does things funny.

Everyday is a gift, thats why they call it the present.

The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.

I don't have a problem with caffeine. I have a problem without caffeine.

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The two most common elements in the world are hydrogen and stupidity.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life

LIVING HISTORY

Up until yesterday I also had another blog called 'WIRRAL CULTURE' but running two is really too much so it's now just WilkoNews but I hope to include a tad more culture and it may be mainly from the Wirral/Liverpool and to set the scene I am transferring some of what I considered to be reasonably good posts from that site.
Ok?
Can somebody please explain it to me then?!



It's always a shame to see an empty pub isn't it?
This picture is of the third pub called the Punch Bowl on this site in Market Street in Hoylake. Though as you see the angle has altered slightly!It is one of the old style 'cathedral' style pubs.
Both pictures are included as part of an ongoing project in to the history of Birkenhead Brewery Company

THEN AND NOW
Lovingly restored and painted the Chapman turns up at the Lifeboat Open Day in Hoylake, August 2006. Living History at its best. This is what it is all about!

FOR THE LADS........

DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN???
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I found another one!

Which is better!

Apologies to anyone who could be offended........

Five Germans in an Audi Quattro arrive at the Italian border. The Italian Customs Officer stops them and tells them "It'sa illegala to
putta 5 people in a Quattro."

"Vot do you mean it's illegal?" asks the German driver.
"Quattro meansa four" replies the Italian official.
"Quattro is just ze name of ze fokken automobile" the Germans says unbelievingly.

"Look at ze dam papers: ze car is designed to karry 5 persons"
"You canta pulla thata one on me!" replies the Italian customs officer. "Quattro meansa four. You have five-a people ina your car and you are thereforea breaking the law."

The German driver replies angrily, "You idiot! Call your zupervisor over. I vant to speak to someone viz more intelligence!"
"Sorry" responds the Italian officer, "He can'ta come. He'sa busy witha 2 guys in a Fiat Uno."

DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO!

WELL I'VE PICKED MY TEAM FOR THE BABY IDITAROD!

JUST RIGHT TO BREAK YOU IN GENTLY TO 2007

NO COLOUR PREJUDICE HERE!
SO CUTE....
CHECK BACK IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS!!

NICE FROG, OH SORRY!
NICE KITTEN, NICE HAT!

THIS MUMMY WOLF HAS BEEN PLAYING AWAY.
THE BABY IS A FOLVE!
YES HE IS. BLESS!
HIS DAD IS A FOX!
MAYBE MR WOLF WON'T BE ABLE TO TELL!

FRANKENSTEIN THE GREAT DANE PUP REALLY
DOES LOOK LIKE HE IS CHEWING AT HUMAN FLESH!
THIS WAS THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY............!

HEADACHE, HANGOVER? WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T LOOK AT THIS THEN.........

A WINTER PIC!

A BEAUTIFUL WINTER PIC DON'T YOU THINK?
MAKES YOU COLD JUST LOOKING...................

Temple Tigers

This poem was written for the monks of KARDNAMABURI in Thailand about the tigers and for the tigers of Tiger Temple.

Compassion ... nurtures the world

So Ferocious you are,King of the forest;


As a killer, you are merciless;


It has become legendary;


Your fierceness and cruelty,

Everyone is well aware;


How ruthless a tiger is;


But with a heart of love and care;


I tend for you, gently and bit by bit;

Soften and cooled down;

Even a tiger, you also somehow;

Sense and feel the tenderness;

In the Law of Karma, it may be seen;

That animals are not always mean;

All living things are to be proud;

Not to be caged, nor to be bound;

In a lifetime, there us nothing to bind;

Nothing but a generous mind;

Out of compassion, we' ll nurture the World;


Comfort every heart and soul;


By the great power of Dhamma;


All creatures will be brought closer;


And learn to love each other;

May the loving kindness;


Extended to all beings;


Under the same sufferings;


Bring peace and serenity;


To our world eternally;

CASTAWAY

A hurricane came unexpectedly.The ship went down and was lost.The man found himself swept up on the shore of an island with no other people, nosupplies, nothing. Only bananas and coconuts. Used to 5-star hotels, this guy had no idea what to do, so for the next four months he ate bananas,drank coconut juice and longed for his old life and fixed his gaze on the sea, hoping to spot a rescue ship.One day, as he was lying on the beach, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. It was a rowboat, and in it was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. She rowed up to him.In disbelief, he asked her: "Where did you come from? How did you get here?""I rowed from the other side of the island," she said. "I landed here when my cruise ship sank.""Amazing," he said. "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How many are there? You were lucky to have a rowboat wash up with you.""It's only me," she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up; nothing did."He was confused. "Then how did you get the rowboat?""Oh, simple," replied the woman. "I made the rowboat out of materials that I found on the island. The oars were whittled from Gum tree branches. I wove the bottom from palm branches and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree.""B-B-But that's impossible," stuttered the man. "You had no tools or hardware. How did you manage?""Oh, that was no problem," replied the woman. "On the other side of the island there is a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock exposed. I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that for tools, and used the tools to make the hardware. But enough of that," she said. "Where do you live?"Sheepishly, he confessed that he had been sleeping on the beach the whole time."Well, let's row over to my place, then," she said.After a few minutes of rowing she docked the boat at a small wharf. As the man looked to the shore he nearly fell out of the boat.Before him was a stone walk leading to an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white. While the woman tied up the rowboat with an expertly woven hemp rope, the man could only stare ahead, dumbstruck.As they walked into the house, she said casually, "It's not much, but I call it home. Sit down, please; would you like a drink?""No, no thank you," he said, still dazed. "I can't take any more coconut juice.""It's not coconut juice," the woman replied. "I have a still. How about a Pina Colada?" Trying to hide his amazement, the man accepted, and they sat down on her couch to talk. After they had exchanged their stories, the woman announced, "I'm going to slip into something comfortable. Would you like to take a shower and shave? There is a razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom."No longer questioning anything, the man went into the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge were fastened onto it's end inside a swivel mechanism. "This woman is amazing," he mused. "What next?"When he returned, she greeted him wearing nothing but vines - strategicallypositioned - and smelling faintly of gardenias. She beckoned for him to sit down next to her."Tell me," she began, suggestively, slithering closer to him, "we've been out here for a very long time. You've been lonely. There's something I'm sure you really feel like doing right now, something you've been longing for all these months. You know..." She stared into his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing."You mean--?" he replied, "I can check my e-mail from here?"

HERE WE GO....2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL