Welcome to Winning Back Morecambe's West End

The official re-opening of Morecambe Learning Centre was held in September with Geraldine Smith, Labour MP for Morecambe & Lunesdale, cutting the ribbon.

Geraldine’s opening speech expressed her support for this local education venue that brings important skills provision to the heart of the community.

Morecambe Learning Centre has been refurbished and is now open for business Monday – Thursday daytime and evenings. The broad range of provision includes ‘Skills for Life’ numeracy and literacy courses from pre-entry to level 2 (equivalent to GCSE level), ICT courses such as CLAiT, IT Users, and E-mail & Internet, as well as English classes for speakers of other languages.

David Wood, Principal of Lancaster & Morecambe College, says; ‘Morecambe Learning Centre is the flagship of the College’s commitment to its community and to adult learning. The new range of courses have been tailored for local residents and offer a much broader range of choice for our learners. A lot of people have enrolled already and we would very much encourage local residents to visit the centre and talk to staff about courses they would like to see on offer.’

As part of the opening ceremony a cheque was handed over to Cancer Care. The sum of £197 was raised by former students of Morecambe Learning Centre selling off the text books that were no longer required and was presented to Iona Price, Volunteer & Fundraising Co-ordinator for Cancer Care.

An inter-school sporting event was held at Salt Ayre for 270 children from the West End and Poulton.

The ‘Regeneration Games’ brought pupils from Sandylands, Poulton-le-Sands, St Mary’s and Morecambe Bay primary schools together for activities including swimming, athletics, netball and tag-rugby.

Everyone had a fantastic time and had the opportunity to try different sports whatever their experience. Trophies were awarded to the winners from the athletics and the swimming gala. Every child received a medal for taking part.

Lancaster City Council Cultural Services and Neighbourhood Management funded the Regeneration Games. However, the day couldn’t have been a success without the dedicated hard work by staff from Neighbourhood Management, Leisure Officers, the Fire & Rescue Service, and local volunteer Mike Ellis.

Michelle Storton, Leisure Development Officer for Lancaster City Council, said: “The day went without any problems, because of the support from all the organisations who helped to run the games. The feedback I have received from teachers and children was excellent. I hope in the future we will be able to do something similar, and hopefully we will gain support from all the schools in Poulton and the West End.”

‘Bulky Matters’, the ground breaking new partnership between Lancaster City Council and Furniture Matters to remove bulky household waste has recently been shortlisted for two major recycling awards.

Before Bulky Matters was launched in June, householders had to put unwanted items outside in the wet, often for weeks before they were collected and sent to landfill - regardless of whether they could be re-used. Now there's a whole new story.

Unwanted items are now collected within seven working days of bookings and householders will know what day and time items will be collected.

How much is the service going to cost me?

Just £15 (for up to three items) and £5 for each additional item.

I am unemployed and cannot afford to pay for the cost of the service?

Any household in receipt of council tax benefit or housing benefit is eligible for a 50% discount on all collections.

What happens to the items?

The service aims to re-use or recycle up to 50% of the items it collects. Reusable items will help local disadvantaged people furnish their home instead of ending up needlessly in landfill.

To arrange a collection, call Lancaster City Council’s Customer Service Centre on 01524 582491.