Glasgow company urge investment in Florida property
February 24, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
-->
Former Rangers FC Director, Ian Russell, and Ayrshire businessman, Donald Paterson, are working together to offer Scots the chance to take advantage of the ailing property market in Orlando, Florida.
Whilst the sunshine state property market has suffered as a result of the global recession with prices tumbling by as much as 50%, experts are predicting that the market has hit rock bottom and could provide an the opportunity for growth.
Unlike other parts of the world, Orlando has burgeoning business and academic sectors, attracting high numbers of domestic visitors to the area, as well as overseas tourists, providing a lucrative rental market.
Recognising this opportunity Ian, whose company, Caledonian Management has provided investment opportunities in the Middle East, and Donald Paterson, who has been advising clients on overseas property for over 15 years, have set up Map Central Florida Property Investments to launch an investment fund investing in Florida property.
Ian Russell said, “You can buy cheap property anywhere in the world at the moment but how an area manages its return to recovery is important. Florida is the second largest university state in America. It is a strong conference destination because of the facilities it offers and has the obvious tourist attractions and theme parks. As a result it has a huge pipeline of people wanting to rent properties who are not interested in buying.
“America is three to four years ahead of us economically and repossessions are expected to reach an all time high this year. All the signs indicate that property prices in Orlando will start to increase. We believe we have a window of opportunity, therefore, to create a vehicle to take advantage of this.”
A number of established developments have already been identified for property purchase in gated communities which are rented to professionals working in the vicinity rather than accommodating seasonal tourist visitors. The developments include Manhattan, The Registry, Madison, Trade Winds, Villa Medici and Plantation Park.
Further information is available by visiting www.mapgpi.com or telephone 01292 317214.
The 2010 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books
February 23, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
Glasgow’s Tramway Theatre underwent a transformation yesterday. The metamorphosis saw the state-of-the-art venue in the city’s South side become a virtual circus, complete with clowns, fire-eaters, stiltwalking butterflies, and acrobats. What better environment to celebrate the 2010 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books?
Ringmaster Janice Forsyth, charged with overseeing the proceedings, spoke of fulfilling her dream of running off to join the circus, which was met with an applause that seemed to imply it was a dream that was shared by many of the 500 young people in attendance.
Record numbers were involved this year, which saw over 16,000 children from all over the country voting for their favourite books, an increase of 1,000 over last year, and 11,000 since the awards began.
“I think that is an absolutely tremendous achievement” said, Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning, Angela Constance, “I really do think that The Scottish Book Trust has to be congratulated for the growth and success of these awards.”
In the Early years category (0-7) – named the Bookbug Readers Category after the new identity created for The Scottish Book Trust by nominee Debi Gliori – Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson won the award for her picture book What the Ladybird Heard, illustrated by Lydia Monks. Unfortunately Donaldson was unable to attend the ceremony, however she did send a video message and said she was this time “saved from despair”. Previously she was shortlisted three times and went home empty handed.
MSP Angela Constance commented on The Scottish Government’s “very strong relationship with the Scottish Book Trust”, explaining that the government had invested one million pounds to allow for the Bookbug reading project to continue.
Barry Hutchison picked up the award in the Younger Readers category (8-11) for his debut novel: Invisible Fiends – Mr Mumbles. The novel’s plot details had some of the adults in attendance squirming in their seats as the terrifying Mr Mumbles – who from all accounts sounds like Freddy Krueger’s little brother, and just as frightening – was introduced to the audience by a selection of pupils from various schools in a pre-produced video.
In his acceptance speech Hutchison, whose reputation amongst the younger members of the audience was obvious from the rapturous applause he received simply upon entering the theatre, remarked: “Anyone who has ever been to one of my events before will probably have heard me talking about my phobia of clowns. So you can imagine my delight when I was told that today’s ceremony was going to have a circus theme.”
Previous winner, Catherine MacPhail, collected the award for the Older Readers category (12-16) for Grass, another obvious favourite judging by the audience’s response. “To win this wonderful award once was exciting enough,” said the author, “but to win it twice, I still can’t quite believe it’s true”.
The ceremony may have been theatrical, and the award announcements, as Forsyth acknowledged, may have had more than a little of the pomp and grandeur that will surely accompany this Sunday’s Oscars. But, as Angela Constance pointed out, the underlying focus of events like these is to improve child literacy and get young people excited about reading:-”We are incredibly fortunate to have so many excellent authors and illustrators from across the country to inspire our future writers. The development of literacy skills is, of course, a key focus of the Curriculum for Excellence and these awards play an important role in encouraging reading and writing in the younger generation.”
And with that, the 2010 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books was brought to an end. Big tops packed up, make up wiped off, and clown shoes stowed away for next year, but most importantly, the 16,000 young people involved in this year’s awards have in the process been enthused about reading.
Surely a statistic which reinforces The Scottish Book Trust as a success.
Thrive Networking comes to Glasgow with the Breakfast Club
February 21, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
Event: Thrive Food & Drink Breakfast Club Launch
Date: Friday, 25th March 2011
Time: 8am – 10am or later if you wish to linger
Venue: The Corinthian Club, 191 Ingram Street, Glasgow
VIP Speakers:
Paul McLaughlin, Chief Executive, Scotland Food and Drink
Mark Thomson, Strategic Insight Director, Kantarworld Panel
Thrive for Business, Scotland’s leading network for small and medium size firms, is launching a specialist breakfast club. This will be a dedicated business network, catering specifically for the needs and aspirations of every company and service provider connected with the ever growing food and drink market in Scotland.
Thrive meetings are designed to be inspirational, productive and fun, as they encourage members to build relationships in an atmosphere of co-operation and trust tapping into the rich seam of each other’s contacts and client base. Thrive is delighted to have formed a soft partnership with Scotland Food & Drink, creating a club that is complementary rather than competitive and pleased to be collaborating for a win-win in this recession.
Scotland Food and Drink is the leadership organisation for the food and drink industry in Scotland. Set up by the industry for the industry, they aim to grow the value of food and drink to £12.5 billion by 2017 and to make it more profitable and deliver greater global success in a fiercely competitive market. Alongside Scotland Food and Drink at this event will be Kantarworld Panel who are the world’s leading provider in continuous, syndicated consumer panels and research solutions into shoppers’ purchasing and usage behaviour. They help with strategy, tactics, deep understanding and insights with advanced analytics. Then they drill down even further with specialist, tailored solutions.
It was said at the National Farmers’ Union Scotland AGM that “Scotland is punching well above its weight in European agricultural development and should now be given a place at the table in critical EU negotiations” which proves how large the food and drink market of Scotland is. This is a market that Thrive will now be exploring, developing and increasing business growth by the minute.
At the launch McLaughlin will give an overview of his organisation and what tangible support they are delivering for the industry this year. Thomson will be offering insight into buyers’ behaviour and current trends in the market.
With such impactful subjects with focused effort all in one place, those who are interested in the growth of Scotland’s food and drink sector cannot ask for much more. Will you be there?
Thrive host regular events like this every month designed to grow your business and support your endeavours. To make sure you are at the next one visit Thrive’s website to book your place.