Welcome to Liverpool

My first weekend volunteering for City Stars, the volunteer ambassador programme working alongside the International Festival for Business which is running throughout June and July across the Liverpool City Region.

Naturally most of the business events are running during the working week, so weekends is mostly focused on the cultural programme and aimed not just at visiting business leaders, but also our thriving tourism sector.

The idea is to generally be out and about, making sure that visitors to the city have the information and directions to make the most out of their stay, and of course tell their friends back home how wonderful Liverpool is.  The scheme is obviously paying dividends, for instance cruise passengers especially rate Liverpool as one of the top European ports of call and their feedback has encouraged the cruise companies to bring more ships to the Mersey.  Ship calls have increased from 28 last year to 52 this, with even more ships booked in for 2015, including maiden calls by Princess's Royal Princess and P&O's Britannia.

 

So back to this weekend, the focus for the volunteers was to be around the Waterfront, Albert Dock and Liverpool One areas.  Albert Dock is the dropping off point for the many coach day trips, and the time between 10am and 11am especially saw dozens of coaches arriving.  And with most visitors only having a few hours here, its important to ask them what their interests are and make up a quick itinerary for them.  For instance I spoke to a woman at lunch time who was interested in Georgian and Church architecture and was catching a 5pm train back to London, so we worked out a route so she could see the Bluecoat, and the Lower Duke Street World Heritage area, before heading for Evensong at the Cathedral.

I met some wonderful visitors over the weekend from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, the USA, Poland, South Africa, Ghana and Israel amongst others and of course from all corners of the UK.  The weather was also being well behaved so suncream and sunglasses were called for, although I find it best to take glasses off when you're speaking to our guests as eye contact is so important.

 

I also took the time to do some exploring myself, and visited the Carpathia Bar, situated on the top floor of the former White Star Line head office at 30 James Street.  What a superb venue, really friendly staff, and a fantastic view across to the IFB Hub building and Canning Dock beyond. 

Back to work tomorrow, and then on Thursday, it's all systems go as thousands of athletes descend on the city for the World Corporate Games.  I can't wait!