The starting gun for the General Election has been fired, and in this issue of TFI Downtown chairman Frank McKenna looks at the prospects of the three main parties. We bring you news of an election night 'Sexy' networking event, and a post General Election discussion featuring three of the region’s leading opinion formers. Our Man of the Week is John Leach of Winning Pitch; Sellick Partnership are 'Business of the Week' and Ian Hudson reveals all in Who Are Yer?' Good luck If you’re having a flutter on the Grand National tomorrow, have a great weekend and don't do anything Frank wouldn't do...

Plans to regenerate the area around Manchester's former Exchange railway station, which could create over 5,000 jobs has received £4.8m investment from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

The money has been awarded to improve 13 hectares of brownfield land in the Exchange Greengate area, on the border of Manchester and Salford.

The redeveloped Greengate Embankment area will form a link between Manchester's Medieval Quarter, around the cathedral and Chetham's, and Salford's riverside.

Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, said: "Public investment in the public spaces and infrastructure will underpin the economic regeneration and redevelopment of the Greengate area. This will contribute towards new job creation and economic growth, while enhancing the image and perception of Salford, the Regional Centre and the North West region by visitors and potential private investors."

Downtown chairman Frank McKenna offers a very topical opinion on who will be the next resident of No. 10.

From 16th May to 20th May, Managing Director of MC2, Mike Perls along with 9 others will be running 10 10k races in 10 countries over just five days, starting with the Great Manchester Run, then going onto Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Luxembourg, Geneva, San Remo, Monaco and Nice, before finishing in Barcelona.

Mike is carrying out this extraordinary challenge to help Childline. In Manchester, Childline is currently only able to answer two thirds of calls from children and young people in distress. It is like calling for an ambulance and the phone ringing out. It is the equivalent of ten times Old Trafford’s capacity having calls unanswered. We’re on a mission to leave no call unanswered and we are looking to raise the £2.7 million for Manchester over the next 3 years to make this happen.

So show him your support and let’s raise some money for a very worthwhile cause.

http://www.justgiving.com/100kChallenge
(mention Mike’s in the message as it’s a group site)

And If you want to follow the runners on twitter the link is:
www.twitter.com/nspcc100k

North West PR agency Paver Smith has announced an increase in first quarter turnover of 9% on 2009.  Revenues grew to £620,000 from £569,000 in the three months to the end of March.

New contract wins during the quarter set an agency record, with £476,000 of annualized orders placed from companies including Slazenger Heritage, Oddfellows and Sanguine Hospitality Management.

“It’s still tough out there and we’re scrapping hard, but our focus on people development is feeding through in enhanced performance,” said finance director Martyn Best.

Jonathan Edwards will join DWF, after leaving his position at Manchester law firms Hammond’. Mr Edwards, who took up his position as Hammonds Manchester office in 2007,  will take up the position of ‘head of banking’ when he begins at DWF.

Sellick Partnership was established in Manchester in 2002 to provide a professional recruitment service within the financial sector. Over the last seven years we have undergone significant organic growth, as well as becoming a specialist legal recruiter.

With their clients and candidates alike they have built a reputation as a trusted, professional and reliable recruitment company that provides temporary, interim, contract and permanent recruitment opportunities across the country.

Sellick Partnership Group Limited
Queens Court
24 Queen Street
Manchester
M2 5HX

Tel: 0161 834 1642
Fax: 0161 834 2223

Manchester-based training and consultancy firm Winning Pitch has been awarded two contracts to deliver 'Group Mentoring' services to SMEs in Greater Manchester.

The contracts, which will run over a two-year period, are worth approximately £160,000 and have been awarded by the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA). They are part of a region-wide scheme aimed at bringing businesses together who face similar issues to solve problems co-operatively. Winning Pitch said it expects to engage with more than 220 SMEs over the lifespan of the project.

"This is an important contract win, as it helps to build our positioning in the skills arena,” said Winning Pitch’s chief executive John Leach. “This is important to our future direction and strategy.”

Have you ever tried to send someone an email with an attachment and received the response.

'File exceeds size limit'

Well YOUSENDIT will solve your problems. This website allows you to send a file up to 2GB, and then you can email the intended recipient with the location of the file. Simple yet incredibly useful. It really is worth checking out.

Although one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, The Comedy of Errors, now showing at the Royal Exchange Theatre,  stands up as a masterpiece in writing.

The Comedy of Errors emphasises the suffering of human error, where guiltless actions appear guilty, leading to bewilderment for the characters and anticipation for a well informed audience. Complexities abound as so often is the case with Shakespeare, this production, directed by Roxana Silbert, associate at the RSC, will appeal to a diverse audience from the age of 12 to 120.

Downtown Manchester, in association with Irwin Mitchell, will be hosting an 'election night' networking evening at the fabulous Living Room. A great opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the city's movers & shakers, and prepare yourself for a night in front of the tele, watching the old swingometer. Labour supporters, Tories, Lib Dems and Raving Loonies all welcome. NO BNP!

Date: Thursday 6th May
Time: 6.00pm Start
Venue: The Living Room - Deansgate

The votes will have been counted, the dust settled, and a new administration will be in place. But what will the election result mean to our city? To discuss this and more, we are delighted to be joined by the editor of North West Insider magazine, Michael Taylor, the former political editor of BBC North West and EN columnist Jim Hancock and Rob McLoughlin, the host of Granada's popular political magazine programme 'Party People.'
 
To read more about our panellists please CLICK HERE

Date: Wednesday 12th May
Time: 8.30am - 10.00am
Venue: The Royal Exchange Theatre

The next Dewi Morris Curry Lunch is on Friday 30th April, at EastzEast, Riverside Branch, Manchester. For just £45/person + VAT, come along and enjoy a free beer, Poppadums & Chutneys, a mixed starter followed by Chicken, Lamb or mixed Vegetable Curry with Pilau Rice and Naan Bread whilst listening to our 2 fabulous speakers, Steve Womack and Jimmy Bright.  All the details can be found on the web site www.dewimorriscurryclub.co.uk including photos from the last event, and other events that may interest you. Contact Helen via email helen@dewimorriscurryclub.co.uk for further information or to book.

Name: Ian Hudson

Company: Psycuity

Position: Operations Director

Red or Blue: Red

Brown or Cameron: Brown

Favourite Bar/Restaurant: Malmaison

What’s your Tipple: Talisker (Distillers Edition)

Favourite Band: AC/DC

Top Tune: You Shook Me All Night Long

Favourite Book: Howard Marks - Mr Nice

Favourite Movie: Star Wars V - Empire Strikes Back

Who would play you in a film: Peter Kay

Favourite TV Programme: Lie To Me

Most visited website: www.skysports.com

Celebrity Crush: Kelly Brook

Interesting Fact about you: Big xbox360 fan (GamerTag = Hardy Farmer)