23/02/2008 - LAURA CRITCHLEY RELEASES NEW SINGLE - Sometimes I - new release by Laura Critchley

Laura Critchley is set to step into the spotlight in the New Year with her single ‘Sometimes I' being released on February 11th. The single is remixed by Ash Howes (who has previously worked with Kylie Minogue and Nelly Furtado) and is produced by Steve Power (renowned for his work with Robbie Williams). It is to be the title track to her debut album and offers the perfect Valentine's message for tongue-tied lovers.

The 23-year-old Liverpudlian beauty has racked up some serious credentials since embarking on her dream, and has been tipped for the big time by fellow musicians such as Mika ‘I love Laura's voice, she makes you feel the emotion in the song'.

Laura's sound is steeped in pop beats, riddled with country swing, and each tune is polished off with a strong, note perfect voice which has been likened to Sheryl Crow, Natalie Imbruglia & Lianne Rimes. In fact it was her stunning voice that prompted Robbie Williams to ask her to sing on his new as-yet-untitled album. "I thought I was just going to be recording a couple of lines of backing vocals but I ended up singing main parts on one of the songs" Laura said on returning from Robbie's home studio in Los Angeles.

Another fellow musician who appreciates Laura's voice is Ronan Keating who asked Laura to perform at his Ebony & Ivory Ball in aid of Cancer Research. In addition to Laura playing a set of her own songs Ronan asked her to duet with him on ‘Last Thing On My Mind' - the duet he previously released with Lianne Rimes. Rod Stewart even told Laura how much he loved her voice!

Laura has been careful in her choice of charity participation and gladly accepted the Wishing Well Foundation's invitation to become an ambassador. The charity supports children with autism; a cause close to Laura's heart as a close family friend suffers with the condition and she believes "music as a means to encourage communication is fantastic, many children with autism are pitch perfect and music, song and movement can help to encourage social interaction".

Signed through her MySpace page to independent label Big Print Music and managed by Jeremy Marsh (Take That, Annie Lennox, Craig David) Laura continues to attract interest – she is currently being considered as a co-host on a new Channel 4 music and entertainment programme, and most recently has been catapulted into the Jan 2008 Mojo Playlist at No.5, with her album track "Superstar", her self written tribute to her hero, Karen Carpenter.

With a strong engaging personality and stunning vocals on stage, her live performance has gone from strength to strength in the past few months and she has supported the likes of Deacon Blue, The Sugababes and took to the stage at The Clothes Show Live at Birmingham NEC in December.

You can see there's a theme developing here. Success beckons and with a catalogue of brilliant songs to fuel her quest Laura's career is set to skyrocket in 2008. Talented and gorgeous, Laura sits in the prime position to be admired by legions of fans. In her own words Laura is ‘just a girl next door that wants more and is trying to succeed'. We have a sneaky suspicion she is going to do just that. If you are interested in booking Laura for your corporate event click
Laura Critchley

08/02/2008 - FOCUS ON QUALITY PAYS OFF FOR EVENT SHOW - Showbizworks.com manages LIVEstage at The Event Show

Exhibitors at The Event Show have declared the 2008 exhibition a resounding success with almost all mentioning the very high quality of visitors as the defining factor.

With the exhibition industry often on the verge of obsession with visitor figures, The Event Show team is delighted that the figures have shown similar numbers to last year, welcoming over 4,000 people through the doors of Olympia over the two days.

Michelle Tayton, manager of The Event Show explained: "So often we hear claims of significant increases in visitor numbers year on year to exhibitions, but this really is irrelevant if those people are not serious buyers. There are only so many people working in the industry and our visitor list reads like a who's who in events and these people have actually placed orders during and straight after the exhibition. We have fulfilled one of our main objectives to deliver revenue straight into our exhibitors' pockets, which has resulted in a 20% increase on re-bookings for next year's Show."

Ben Irvin, an exhibitor at The Event Show and director of Irvin Amusements said: "Whilst there is often volume of visitors at some exhibitions, this is without doubt the best exhibition for quality of leads and all the people are nice to work with."

Shaun Westerman, marketing manager for Themes Inc added his endorsement: "Brilliant! A very, very good Show. This is our 11th or 12th year at The Event Show and it is definitely quality and quantity. The first day was excellent and the second day didn't dip. We have already re-booked for next year."

The now much acclaimed Access Sessions were once again well received with predictably packed audiences for the presentation by Barry Baker, the Health and Safety Executive's Head of Entertainment and Leisure Section.

Meanwhile, the focus on quality continued on the LIVEstage managed by Showbizworks.com which claimed a major exhibition first with named artistes performing live for event organisers. These included X Factor finalist Rowetta, Damon Scott from Britain's Got Talent and System 1 Management presented The Drifters and Alexander O'Neal, which resulted in hundreds of visitors clamouring for clear sightlines to video performances on their mobile phones!

In line with The Event Show's commitment to be the first to bring new products and services to visitors, this year saw no less than 25 new launches at the exhibition. For the first time ever the Show's organisers launched a competition to find the most innovative product. Surrey based Magnet Schultz was awarded the prize which included free space at the exhibition. The company has created the Electro Kabuki, judged to be the product to make the biggest impact on the events industry through the intelligent use of technology. Developed following extensive consultation with the theatre and events industries, the Electro Kabuki has been designed to reliably release weights of up to 50kg and is suitable for applications where the requirement is to discharge or drop drapes, dummies or cables on cue for the perfect reveal.

So with exhibitors already having secured orders from companies such as Mercedes McLaren, The Event Show continues to retain its position as the exhibition that delivers the movers and shakers to exhibitors.

Next year The Event Show will take place on 21st and 22nd of January 2009 at Olympia. For more information email: sarah.brownlee@oceanmedia.co.uk or log on to www.eventshow.co.uk

02/01/2008 - SHOWBIZWORKS IS SOLE UK AGENT FOR LIGHTNING CUBE! - Showbizworks.com signs sole UK agency deal for spectacular new Lightning Cube

Happy new year to all our clients and artistes!
We begin 2008 with the announcement that Showbizworks.com has been appointed sole UK agent for the spectacular new Lightning Cube, which will be officially launched at The Event Show at Olympia on the 23rd and 24th January 2008 at 2pm each day. This spectacular new product for the event and concert industry is a show in three acts, viewed at 360 degrees and it is perfect for a large audience. This new technological invention enables a 3D presentation of many visually stunning international artistes. A 2m40 transparent cube, its cover and base is made out of Plexiglas and the cube can be winched up, to hover over the stage. It can also produce lighting effects and flashes with the option to divide the show into sections. As a spectacular finale, kabukis can be added to promote the company's logo or the event's key messages. So please visit us at stand number 263 at The Event Show or telephone us on 0845 638 1808 for more information.

Showbizworks.con is also delighted to announce that we are now members of The International Special Events Society and we look forward to working with fellow members all over the world.

02/12/2007 - WE WON! WISHING WELL HOUSE WINS LOTTERY FUNDING - Showbizworks.com nominated charity awarded £40,000 to teach the arts to children with autism!

Following the huge disappointment on Monday 26th November when Wishing Well House lost the head to head for Lottery funding against a school in Cumbria, it was euphoria on Friday, when Granada Television turned up on the doorstep of Wishing Well House trustee Regina Coulon, to surprise her with a cheque for the full £40,000 for being the charity runner up with the most phone votes out throughout the week.

Through floods of tears Regina said: "It''s been a very emotional week, everyone has worked so hard and friends, family and people we have never even met were phoning their votes in to try and help us win. When we didn''t get the vote on Monday we felt so disappointed, not just for the children we are trying to provide music classes for, but for everyone who had shown such passion and support for our project. So to get the full £40,000 on Friday is the best Christmas present we could ever have wished for. Thank you to everyone for picking up the phone, we couldn''t have done it without your help, in particular that of our new patron Laura Critchley who promoted the competition to all her fans. In the meantime, we hope the charities that weren''t successful throughout the week will benefit from the TV coverage and hopefully local businesses in their areas will be prompted to help support these very worthwhile causes."

Wishing Well House provides dance and movement classes every Sunday in a room provided free by the Whittaker Centre in Blackpool. However, the charity will now invest in sensory equipment, specialist music therapists and musical instruments in order to teach the arts to children with autism. It is believed that many autistic children are pitch perfect and in America, several experts in the field of autism have used music as a way to help the children improve communication skills and social interaction, with many of them learning to speak through singing. For more information on the classes telephone 0845 638 1808.

27/11/2007 - DISAPPOINTING RESULT FOR WISHING WELL HOUSE - Wishing Well House misses out on lottery funding competition

Congratulations to Sandside Lodge Special School!

Unfortunately, Wishing Well House heard today that they had not achieved enough phone votes for the televised competition last night to win the £40k Lottery Funding to buy music equipment for their arts project to help children with autism. Sandside Lodge Special School has been successful in their bid for £80k for a school playground. Trustee Regina Coulon said: "Obviously, we are hugely disappointed, especially as everyone worked so hard and so many friends and colleagues were so supportive. We would like to especially thank our new patron, singer Laura Critchley who contacted all her fans to tell them about the charity. Despite the disappointing result for us, we will continue to work hard to fund-raise in order to provide musical instruments and hire music therapsists that can help children with autism communicate and in hopefully in some cases... start to speak."

She added: "In the longer term we still have a dream to open an arts based school in NW England that will provide one to one tuition for children with autism. We desperately need permanent premises and we still need to reach that first milestone of £150k in order to get the school open. However, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sandside Lodge Special School and wish them every success with their new playground project and we would also like to thank everyone who supported us yesterday, we can't achieve this without you all".