Something for the weekend
Manhattan project
The ever-ebullient 'King of Cannock' Fred Pritchard seems a little confused if his latest press release is anything to go by. Seems Fred is getting the Black Country mixed up with an area of New York. Announcing the new look Sky Bar at the Ramada Hotel at Cannock Chase, Fred gushed: "It is a fantastic place to meet, both during the day and night, and at night you lose all sense of scale and you could be in Cannock or indeed Manhattan with the lights of the road and of the high rise around, particularly with the M6 Toll travelling within 200 metres or so of the hotel. It is truly spectacular." That’s some imagination.
School’s out
Who says teachers are lazy and have too many holidays? Not in the Black Country, they don't. The Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) has devised a scheme with Walsall Business Partnership (EBP), which targets teachers through summer-time factory tours and off-site meetings - then encourages them to include their new knowledge in school timetables. CBM president Barry Yeomans says the concept was trialled during 2010, with the EBP, and he is delighted by the way the just-completed 2011 scheme operated. "We used feedback from last year's trial to fine-tune the way the initiative worked, and it really couldn't have been better received by the employers or the teachers," he said. Not even a little grumble from the teachers, Barry?
Saving grace
RSM Tenon is telling us all to invest in a piggy bank. The firm says that more than 90 per cent of people would prefer to spend their spare cash on items such as holidays and treats rather than invest towards their retirement. The results come as new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that more people will be living to the age of 100 – over half a million centenarians by 2066. Stephen Harvey, director of financial management at RSM Tenon said: "For many people retirement seems a long way away, but as these figures show we’re all going to have to start taking our financial planning more seriously. We have a 'live for today' mentality and despite being urged by the Government to save for retirement it seems that the message is just not hitting home. People are living longer so we all need to put more aside if we want to maintain the same standard of living when we retire. By saving £100 a month, people could expect an additional £114,000 in their pension pot if they retired at 65. In the current economic climate this sounds like a lot of money to put aside each month, but in the long term people who forward plan will reap the rewards. The figures don’t lie – looking at how much you can realistically save when you’re younger can make a difference by the time you retire."
