[bdnwriters]

The Decline of Grimsby’s Fishing Industry

Once upon a time, Grimsby was one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, port in the country. The docks were once bustling with trawlers bringing in tons of fish and cargo ships bringing in valuable materials such as coal, used for powering the trains of the day. However, times have changed, and as the decades have passed, the ships have gone elsewhere and today, Grimsby Docks is a shadow of its former self.

This comparison of the quite empty docks today on the left with the docks on the right being from sometime around the early 1900’s, packed with steamboats possibly from all over the world. It shows just how much the docks have changed in the last hundred years, the emptiness of the picture on the left summing it up in one image.

So what has caused this absolute downturn in fortunes? Could it be that Grimsby has simply been affected by the country’s faltering economy? Has the growth of the nearby ports of Hull and Immingham have taken away business? Or is it simply that the general public don’t rely on Fish coming from British seas? The answer, really, is a mixture of all 3.

The country has really been hit by hard times over the last few decades, with recessions being on and off for around half a century. This hit the fishing industry very hard,especially during the ‘Cod Wars’ with the Icelandic fisherman. Less fish was being brought into Grimsby docks, meaning not a lot of trade and a loss of money for all involved with the industry. 

As well as this, the ports of Immingham and Hull began to take the materials business away from Grimsby, with oil and other resources now going into these two ports. This has left Grimsby in an even worse position than when the fishing industry began to decline, as now there is literally nothing that comes into the port, only car ferries and the odd few trawlers. This links in with the fact that nowadays, there are so many other places where we now receive our fish from. It comes from overseas, and there are now more factories inland were the biggest brands are made.

I’m not saying that the industry is completely dead in the town. We have a massive array of fish factories still in business, with thousands of jobs being created thanks to them. However, it is easy to see that this is not what the town should be like. The fish market was once an incredibly busy place, fresh fish being sold to people for good prices, bustling with activity. Nowadays, though it is still active, it is not as busy, with people going to supermarkets and mega stores for their fish now.

Everywhere you look, you see out of work people, and if you ask some of the older ones, they will tell you that they were fishermen. The fall of the fishing industry is symbolised in this town by the unemployment rates. Take away a town’s main industry, and you are left with nothing. People were forced to move away to look for work, while the ones who stay struggle to find work too.

Once a thriving town that was the heartbeat of the British food industry, has now been left as quite a deprived town, ridiculed in the media and by people from other places. That is the effect of the decline of the fishing industry.

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Littering is a huge problem within today’s society. It’s no secret, and yet nothing seems to ever get done about it.

 Within Cleethorpes beach alone, over 1,000 pieces of litter was picked up within just a few hours.  From this amount of litter being thrown on the ground on the beach alone, it has a huge effect on the animals living in surrounding areas. Fish are just one example of this. 

Marine debris is the official term for litter and waste being dumped onto beaches, in the sea, in lakes and all places alike. From marine debris, both the environment and animals are affected. Things like cans, bottles and plastic bags can be thrown into lakes and rivers and end up being washed into the sea, eventually ending up on the beaches people walk on daily, which leads to an unpleasant time for beach animals who have to walk between the litter that has either been washed up with the sea or thrown onto the ground. It has been found that, from marine debris, more than 1 million birds and 100,100 marine animals either get tangled up in or ingest it, typically leading to the deaths of said animals. 

When it comes to litter affecting animals, it is not only restricted to the beach. There are many cases that happen daily with animals consuming or being harmed from litter. To research more into this, I visited the RSPCA website to read more into how litter can be damaging to them. On there, there was a full section based on these happenings. Mentioned in the part about litter, the RSPCA state that they get over 7000 phone calls each year regarding animals being affected by litter.  

It’s hugely important that young adults understand how litter can affect the environment and the nature we have here in Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Known for the seaside, it’s often that you find the sand and sea littered with cans and bottles, and this isn’t reflecting very well on the individuals living in Grimsby and Cleethorpes. It’s vital that we, as a society, understand exactly what we think harmless littering is doing to the environment and the animals living in it - especially before it’s too late. 

[bdnwriters]

Gary Williams - A Swinging Christmas

Music lovers of all ages all turned up on Sunday 30th November to enjoy a night of festive fun from locally born talent, Gary Williams. Packed into two hours of pure entertainment were light hearted anecdotes, well loved Christmas classics and even some all time greats.

Gary brought the showmanship from the West end from where he performed in ‘The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas’ taking on the role of Frank Sinatra. Following on from this, Williams travelled to many destinations across Europe with the show. His successful career has seen him travel all over the world, including places like Iceland, Hawaii and Tokyo.    

Upon arrival, the audience were handed lyric sheets that included songs from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to The twelve Days of Christmas, which Williams himself joked would involve his own choreography - standing and waving each and every time we sang about the 5 gold rings… which, incase you didn’t know already, appears in the song multiple times.

It’s easy to tell that Gary is a natural performer, the show was mesmerizing each and every second he was on stage. We each commented during the interval just how well the setlist flowed. Songs were split apart with humorous interludes - even at the end after the show we were left wanting more.  

From the moment Gary Williams stepped foot on stage joined by his three piece band the audience were enthralled right through to the end. Each and every one of the songs sung throughout the night were ones that we all loved to sing along to.

Gary even took the time to meet and greet the people who attended the concert signing the merchandise he had brought along with him, which gave the fitting end to a truly enjoyable night. Speaking to Williams after the show, he expressed his excitement on returning to Cleethorpes this coming May for his tribute to Frank Sinatra, which we for one will definitely not be missing.

[bdnwriters]

Shepherd Warwick May

After speaking to Warwick May, a contract shepherd at Elsham Hall Farm Park, He told me all the ins and outs of being a shepherd.

 Warwick started his career in agriculture in the late 70s when he was a little lad. He got involved with Sheep in 83 which was part of a placement on a college year but then went into dairy calves, that didn’t last long as he then got back into sheep in 86 and has been working with sheep ever since, either for other people or his own sheep. Even Though this year will only be Warwick’s 5th lambing season at Elsham, That doesn’t stop him from being so passionate about his sheep and spending so much extra time with them to make sure they're fit and healthy.

Warwick loves his job and sees a lot of positives within his job role. He told me that for him seeing the lambs grow healthy and grow through so they are a finished product is the most rewarding part of the job. For warwick it doesn’t matter if it’s a nice day or if it’s cold and fresh just being outside is a positive. It’s not the sort of career to go into if you just can’t think of anything else to do. People either go into agriculture from a very early age or if it’s a family business. It's not the sort of thing you want to do unless you’re committed to it. As for Warwick he got into farming when he was 6 or 7, he used to watch tractors go up and down the field outside of his house and he just took it on from there. As Warwick has been into agriculture since such a young age, he used to go down to the local farm on the village and help out. When you're that age you just get under peoples feet but this didn’t stop Warwick he was still eager about becoming a farmer he helped out and then got a job on that farm. This shows that hard work pays off and starting by just helping out can help you progress on to bigger and better things.

Lambing season is the busiest time of the year for a shepherd and according to Warwick is very tiring and gets frustrating but Being a shepherd that is your role and to also manage the flock, through the whole production cycle, With all that to consider it’s a very pleasing time of year in many respects starts when they start to lamb which on Elsham it’s middle of march, It lasts about 3-4 weeks it’s very intensive over 3 weeks then you’ll get some ewes that lamb a lot later. Warwick has a great system going as they are all organised and that’s the most important part. Everybody knows what they're doing and there is quite a lot of staff involved also students come on to help and learn.

Warwick has to oversee everything that is happening and also oversee the health and the productivity of the sheep, He said it’s a very busy time of year but it’s great to see them born. Warwick told me an old saying, where there's livestock theirs deadstock. You’ll get live lambs and then you’ll get dead ones, but that’s normal for Warwick as he is used to it. Its an intensive time of year but there are loads of rewards at the end of it.

Lambing is such a long process and starts when they come in the shed in the middle of January but they start preparing for lambing a fortnight before they are actually due, as in the physics of putting the shed together cleaning them out, getting all the veterinary medicines all together. All the sheep are pregnancy scanned so they are grouped to how many lambs they are going to have. But if you take it further back you start preparing for lambing in October when the rams go in, As that is when the mating season starts.

Warwick believes that the most pleasurable part of working in agriculture is working with livestock. The Job has the rewards of seeing the animals born and grow through which is what the job is all about. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day that, that animal is going into the meat chain its the quality of life of that animal and the fact you’ve reared it.

Lambing season is very confusing but intriguing if you don’t know anything about it Warwick told me all about what the lambs have to go through and all about the adoption. The whole process is very clever. Each ewe should have 2 lambs but some of 3 or soome have 1. But they try so all lambs are healthy by giving the ones with only 1 lamb a lamb from a ewe that has 3. That’s some of your profitability is involved in that process because at the end of the day if you can get 2 healthy lambs on a healthy ewe that is where your profit is. One of the ways in which they do this is by getting a lamb from a 3 and putting it with a lamb from a 1 and put them in a bucket, give it a good stir up and what they  actually do is rinse the single lamb and get all the birth fluids, we get it really soaking wet and leave them in the bucket stir them up in the bucket and just leave them in there. Warwick said this works quite well as once you lose the birth fluids you can’t get the lamb you want as wet and that’s alot of it you can’t get it as wet and it won’t smell the same.

I had such a great experience interviewing Warwick, I can see why he is so successful in the agriculture business. Such a lovely man and deserves so much applause for being so hard working. He should be an inspiration to those out there that aren’t as passionate as he is about his career.

[bdnwriters]

Elsham Easter

With Easter Monday fast approaching, where better to visit than Elsham Hall Gardens and Country Park? A fun, educational trip for all. Elsham provides an interactive day out for the whole family, whether you’re visiting for the newly born lambs or just a meander around the lake and walled garden.

Lambing Sundays have just passed and during our visit, the lambing shed was bursting with energy. Shepherd Warwick May enthused about the importance of lambing season and the way in which they, as an animal park, prepared for it. With over 500 ewes, it was necessary for preparations to begin months in advance, right from the October prior to manage the flock through the production cycle.

Lambing, however, isn’t as simple as it sounds. Warwick May described it as an ‘intensive time of year’. Organisation is important right from the start - one essential thing is that you know your sheep and understand the problems that could occur to avoid anything going wrong. Despite the tiring aspects of the job, Warwick put across how rewarding it was throughout the process.

While the lambs seem to be on everyone's minds this Easter, the animal farm and country park are simply unmissable. Talking to Pirjo Johnson, who plays a huge role in the success of Elsham Hall, she explained the way in which trips to Elsham and places alike were important to the younger generations. Having worked mainly on the animal farm for the past seven years, Pirjo spoke passionately about the importance of young children getting hands on experience with animals and learning more effectively outside of the classroom.

Elsham provide many different opportunities for the trip to be an educational one, like the trail centre located next to the walled garden, filled with both colouring activities and fun facts about nature. The adventure playground, however, is just across the lake, only adding to the amount of activities available to the children who visit.

While lambing Sundays have been and gone, there’s still much to look forward to. There’s a wide range of events happening throughout the year, including sheep shearing in May with Warwick, yet why not visit between the 5th and 12th of April for Easter Bunny Week? With all different types of exciting activities for the whole family, you can take part in competitive egg hunts and bunny naming competitions. Elsham Hall Gardens and Country Park is a fun day out for all ages, so why not make this Easter extra special?

[bdnwriters]

Elsham Hall

Summer is finally arriving. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. However, it’s not summer without family trips out, and Elsham Hall is the perfect place for it. 

I find that not many people truly know what kind of activities and opportunities are available to them within the local area. The response you’ll always get to the question of ‘What are you doing today?’ is ‘There’s nothing to do’. Of course - a huge percent of the time, it’s exaggeration. The truth is - Grimsby, Cleethorpes and the surrounding areas aren’t completely bereft of things to do.

Speaking to Pirjo Johnson, a worker at Elsham Farm since 2008, she enthused all about the advantages of both working at the animal park and having families visit for the day. As someone who works in all different areas - with the animals themselves, the shop, the offices, admissions - she now describes herself as ‘part of the furniture’. From living in Finland to working at Elsham, Pirjo explains how much she actually loves her job as we walk through the walled gardens.

‘The most interesting thing at Elsham is that they’re all completely different days. You never know in the morning when you come here that you’re going to be doing absolutely different.’ As we walked through the gardens, Pirjo stopped to feed the goats, and it was just as evident then as it had been before that she loved her job in the animal park. ‘I love being with the animals because it’s so relaxing. They’re always so happy to see you!’ she joked.  

One of the most important aspects of visiting places like Elsham, I think, is the educational value that really isn’t available anywhere else. Just a day trip to animal parks gives children that real hands-on experience, and honestly, it’s unbelievably beneficial. Asking Pirjo about the many school groups that visited, Pirjo mentioned how much she loved seeing the children's reactions to all the animals. ‘Towards the end of the afternoon, they start to get so tired and it’s lovely to see them actually outdoors enjoying themselves.’

It’s no surprise that in recent years, more and more children have become more obsessed with technology than going outdoors. Even from ages as young as six, children would rather use phones than go out and visit places like Elsham, and it’s a shame that in the end, they really don’t get those experiences. Asking Pirjo what she thought about it, she mentioned how children weren’t grasping onto the opportunities that are there for them. ‘They are a bit too far from nature, and this is the type of old fashioned, basic animal nature being outdoors because people spend too much time indoors’, she explained.

When I spoke to Pirjo, it was actually lambing season, the birthing of hundreds of lambs throughout Easter time. It’s huge everywhere - and usually incredibly busy. Pirjo, however, spoke of how much she loved that time of year, when Elsham farm was at it’s busiest. ‘There’s no need to even describe to people why they should come for Lambing Sundays’. she said. ‘Just because the lambs are so lovely, they’re like little wonders of nature. It’s not only for children, it’s the whole family.’

However, it’s not only lambing that gets people down there, it’s the little events they have throughout the whole year. Sheep shearing with their shepherd, Warwick May, children entertainers over the weekends, and their Easter weekend - the one in which fathers end up more competitive during the bunny hunt than the children do.

Summer is coming and Elsham Farm is ready for you. Why not take a family trip there?

[bdnwriters]

Cleethorpes Race for Life

Individuals of all ages gathered together this past Sunday, all to run, walk or jog their way to the Race for Life finish line. Just like years prior, Cleethorpes Meridian Park hosted the event, which started off with fun bouts of zumba-style work outs. Right from the very start, the area was buzzing with activity.

Race for Life has been present for a huge number of years, right from 1994, where the first event took place in Battersea Park, London. At the first ever Race for Life, 750 people participated and raised almost £50,000. Since then, it’s become increasingly popular over time. Over six million people have taken part, raising a massive amount of over £493 million for Cancer Research UK.

All preparing to run the 5k course along Cleethorpes seafront, people clad in pink were taking part in the pre-run warm ups. Whilst there, I managed to talk to the Tesco team all running in support of the charity. ‘We’ve all, sadly, experienced what cancer can do to people and their families, and this is just about teaming together to do the best we can and find a way to beat it’ Debbie Taylor, Tesco night-worker said. All dressed up with glittery cowboy hats and feather boas, the Tesco lot weren’t the only ones. They were joined by groups of workers from companies also supporting Race for Life and the battle against cancer, including Cafe Nero and River Island.

As the race started, all participators cheered and were on their way, all with family and friends dotted around the course encouraging them further. The event, overall, was a huge success. Hundreds all took over Cleethorpes in pink. With the ending prize being Race for Life dog tags, the people that stepped up to the front line to fight against cancer definitely did Cleethorpes proud.

[bdnwriters]

Power of the Internet

We always hear of things going ‘viral’. Things that catch the attention of many and get shared on to others. The case with Aydian Dowling is no different. After entering Men’s Health’s competition of finding someone to become their front page model, 27 year old Aydian Dowling created his profile and became a competitor in the running. A well known vlogger with almost 18,000 subscribers, Aydian is a well known trans activist and is hoping, along with many others, to become the first transgender model for Men’s Health fitness magazine.

Aydian’s entry page, which currently has over 42,000 votes, explains the journey he’s been on throughout the years to get to where he is now. ‘Although I may always have some kind of battle with my body, I continue to work everyday for a happy peace within.’ Aydian, in many instances after his profile going viral, has explained how shocked he is over the popularity he has experienced.

As a transgender male, Aydian himself has explained his desires to help others just like himself. With his very own clothing site, Point 5cc, Dowling gives money constantly to aid transgender individuals just like himself. This, however, is not the only work he does to help others. Point 5cc have their very own binder and bra donation programme. This means that, for people in the community that are in need, Point 5cc will give their binders and bras to the people who need them, no questions asked. This is one amazing organisation that they’re setting up. Transgender people can grow up in an unapproving home, and even an unapproving society, which means that these things could be hard for them to get hold of - meaning they are unable to fully be themselves.

Aydian Dowling, in many interviews he has done in the past, has explained how the community have given him so much - many people donating money to be able to get Aydian the appropriate surgery he both needed and wanted - and stated that he purely just wants to give back the amount of help and support he received just a few years prior.

Since Aydian’s profile got more viewers on the Internet, everyone has been talking about it. This  is just one way in which the Internet truly has the power to do good within society - and the world.

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A Movement is Building

Celebrities and well known people in mass media today are some of the most influential when it comes to the serious issues we face daily. You may deny it, but it’s true, and there are many, many examples of it happening in recent years. While we may complain about the amount of coverage they get, usually over the most trivial of things, there are definitely advantages when it comes to the serious stuff, and we’re not talking about finding out what they were wearing the week prior.

There are topics in the world that aren’t given the right amount of attention they need, some that are even seen as taboo subjects,  which leads to said topics being misunderstood a large percent of the time. Take actress Emma Watson as an example. She’s undoubtedly a hugely inspirational woman and has been for many people for a lengthy time. From when she first began her role in book and film series Harry Potter, fans have looked up to her. As she grew older and the series ended, nothing changed. In fact, the following grew bigger and Emma Watson took it as a chance to raise awareness for something she felt strongly about.

As a key member of the movement HeForShe, Emma has informed and helped many people along her journey. UN Women, a United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality, set about involving men of all ages in the plans to achieve women being equal to men. With Emma Watson’s support and involvement, HeForShe received huge amounts of praise and acknowledgement and helped people to understand feminism that little bit better. While some think feminism is a negative thing - it’s purely just something that aims for gender equality.

There are a huge number of cases where the celebrities and the media are able to bring issues to peoples’ attention. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of America, is a well-known activist for women's’ rights. As well as this, she also helps to enable children to get the best education opportunities possible. Within the society in which we live today - equal rights is one of the most important things to conquer. It’s often you hear of sexism towards women, even unequal pay, and this is something that needs to be stopped. Teaming up together is the start of something great  - a movement is truly building.

[bdnwriters]

Five-A-Side: Football for the ordinary

Every week, we sit down and watch 22 perfectly conditioned athletes battle it out for their sides. A large number of us have always dreamed of playing football professionally but only for us to realise that we possess neither the natural talent nor natural fitness required to do so. Nevertheless, I, along with many people regardless of age, still enjoy the feeling of playing football, especially when there is an edge of competitiveness to it.

There’s always Sunday league football, but you have to go through the process of finding a team, fitting in with them and then proving your worth to them and if you’re not the fittest of people, there’s quite a slim chance of you getting played, contrary to popular belief. That is were 5-a-side comes into play. You don’t need to have the lung capacity of Pete Reed, and you can simply make a team with your mates, not joining a team of strangers who judge your efforts as a newbie. Five-a-side is also shown to harbour health benefits, such as a lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular endurance through the games intensity.

Five-a-side has been around since the days of short football shorts and when England challenged in major competitions, and has grown to be the most popular team sport in the British Isles. Over 5 million people play the game every week, with dozens of organisations running leagues for good prices. One such organisation is Champion Soccer, which delivers leagues to over a hundred different cities and towns, in dozens of counties across England and Wales, from Somerset to Tyne and Wear.

I went to my local Champion Soccer league to find out a little bit more about the game, from the point of view of the players and what they think of the game itself. “The thing I enjoy the most about it is the fact I can play with friends,” I was told by Lewis Salters, 18. He and his team had been coming to Champion Soccer for around a year and a half, and seemed to like it. But is there anything to dislike maybe? “Well, some of the other players get quite aggressive during the games, and it’s boring because they treat it so seriously! The referees sometimes get intimidated too, but then again so would anyone. Other than that, it’s not too bad,” his team mate Daniel Charlton, also 18, told me. You’d expect this kind of stuff though, considering that people tend to enjoy a bit of healthy competition, but not many enjoy losing.

So after, witnessing the event (and through first-hand experience...) I find it easy to see why the game is so popular. The mixture of playing competitive football with your mates coupled with the obvious health benefits you can get from the intensity of the 30 minute games offers a perfect recipe for most people to enjoy. No matter what age, fitness level or footballing ability, five-a-side football offers you the chance to continue playing the game that many people love.

[bdnwriters]

Grimsby Bikeathon

For the past 17 Years Grimsby have been raising money by organising A Bikeathon, this is an inspirational event in aid of leukemia and lymphoma research. This event has been a great hit with the locals and usually attract about 300- 400 people and raise about £7000.

The Bikeathon will take place on Sunday 10th May, and starts at 10.30 am. The distance is 26 miles. Yes, this is a long way but definitely worth it to be able to raise money for such a great cause. The event that takes place is a great day out for the family and always enjoyed by many.

The route is along public roads in grimsby, so the support will be given by tons of locals praising the towns success throughout the event.

Are you up for an amazing day to raise money for such a great cause? If so, get yourself registered and you can be apart of such a fantastic event in our local area.

[bdnwriters]

Kickboxing

The term kickboxing falls within the classification of a martial art sport...

Kickboxing was specifically initiated in Japan and evolved from full contact karate. It’s history and roots, in many ways, tie down to the martial art of muay thai boxing, which was originated in Thailand.

In Japan, Kickboxing  was extremely popular and was broadcast on the television before going into a dark period during the 1980s. Kickboxing in North America had unclear rules so it was essentially seen as the same as full contact karate. While here in Europe the sport did not have much success but went on to thrive in the 1990s.

Many people believe that is far more difficult and better for your fitness than kickboxing. From a strictly calorific standpoint, the calories you burn from boxing in the ring compared with kickboxing in the ring are similar. You would burn about 425 calories in both, however training sessions for boxing and kickboxing are completely different and kickbox training can burn roughly 25 percent more calories than boxing training.

So why is it that kickboxing is not an olympic sport or even taught to children at schools? Yes, some of you may feel that it may influence violence in children but in my opinion I don’t feel as though it would. I think it would offer children more discipline and help to boost confidence as well as an opportunity to meet like minded people and a chance to form valuable friendships.

Even though the sport is not on the school curriculum, i do not see any reason why children cannot get involved in kickboxing/ boxing after school or in the holidays. The NHS says the “Children and young people aged 5-18 should do at least 60 minutes of aerobic exercise a day.” Do you really think an hour of PE a week is enough?

Football gets a lot of media attention but I hardly hear or see anything around kickboxing.

I feel this is a reason that we generally see young people joining football teams, as there are so many footballers to portray their sport which obviously inspires young people.

If kickboxing was publicised more do you think there would be more opportunities for young people to get involved in the sport?

My home town Grimsby does not offer many places to take part in kickboxing/boxing but there are numerous football teams to join. I think, though, that if the media paid more attention to sports such as kickboxing/ boxing it may not only attract young people but schools may become more educated around contact sport and add them to the school curriculum. This should mean more children would have the opportunity to enjoy them.

You may generally expect that parents encourage their children to get involved in football, which is usually targeted at boys, and dancing which usually appeals to girls.You may also find that kickboxing/boxing or any full contact sport is aimed more toward boys and don’t expect many girls to want to get involved.

However, the gym I attend, Grimsby Martial Arts Academy, boasts a mixture of both genders and has a range of all ages. Most people see kickboxing/ boxing as an influence of violence but that is not the case. There are a lot of benefits to kickboxing as it can improve your stamina and coordination. It reduces stress and frustration, and it also increases determination and self-confidence.

Great Britain’s female boxer Nicola Adams won an Olympic gold medal and outclassed China’s great Ren Cancan in the 2012 Olympics.This resulted in Adams becoming the first female boxer to win an Olympic medal. This made such an impact on women in Great Britain to want to start boxing. Nicola is such an inspiration and I’m sure she would have influenced a lot of women to take part in this sport.

Since the Olympics there has been some increase in the amount of participants, and exposure in the media, since the Olympics but not as much as these contact sports deserve.

Kickboxing is such an incredible sport and in my opinion it should be publicised in the media a lot more, this way the sport may receive the accreditation that it deserves!

[bdnwriters]

5 aside Hopefuls

In the future peterson hopes to start winning a few more games. He can’t promise anything but will keep trying and might get lucky one day.

After speaking to Brad Peterson a former 5 aside footballer, who tells us all the ins and outs of being on the team. Peterson plays locally against people that are older than them. who are all surprisingly quite good to say how out of shape they really are.

Peterson has been apart of the team for 3 seasons now which is a year and a half. They have been together for a long time though, as they are all good friends and been playing since school. They came up with the idea of starting the team as they were not playing as much football as they used too.

Yet the team have not had much success, they are still carrying on which is by far bringing them closer together. Peterson and his team don’t win very often and haven’t won any games this season but that doesn't matter to the team, as they do it to have fun.

Its strange to explain the way they work together, they always start off great but then implode and fall apart. This doesn’t stop them, as they are all very passionate about the sport and whether there doing well or not they still carry on. I asked Peterson what he enjoyed most about being on the team, he told me, having the chance to play together is great and an excellent experience  and he loves the competitive side.

Danny Charlton one of the members of the team, said by peterson to be their best player, has a huge impact on them and would make a lot of difference if he was not to be there. Within the 28 minutes of playing football the team connect in a way that brings them together off the pitch as well as on which proves their friendship is stronger than ever.

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Life as a Pro

I had a great experience interviewing Mickleburgh, he hopes to be living abroad doing golf coaching and custom fitting and I feel very positive about his success and hope to see our local sportsman succeed in the future.

Alex Mickleburgh has achieved a lot in the Last couple of years. Mickleburgh an astonishing Golfer who is based at Cleethorpes Golf Club, has been playing for a long period of time now and sees himself improving everyday.

Mickleburgh took up this sport as he stopped playing football and at the age of 13 was contemplating whether to take up something new.  His father’s best friend took him to a junior class at the golf club and straight away he took to it and thats when he knew he could succeed in this sport.

From winning his first ever tournament he pursued his success and got to the position he is in today. Mickleburgh had to accomplish a few things to become Pro, a playing ability test which consists of 36 holes this is to prove you're a good enough player, You have to achieve a certain score which Mickleburgh passed with flying colours. You also have to do a 3 year degree course covering subjects such as: business,  Golf coaching, sports science, equipment technology and last of all rules. Mickleburgh is currently in his second year.

I asked Mickleburgh whether much has changed since becoming pro a year and a half ago. He told me that the standards of playing golf are certainly a lot higher, and the competition is much bigger also you earn money for playing.

This sport is loved by many but most enjoyable part for Mickleburgh is the fact you get to meet so many new people and its great exercise. He believes its a great idea for others to get involved in the sport as it has a great social aspect and is marvelous for your health.

[bdnwriters]

Winter Olympics

This years Winter Olympics was officially closed recently by Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach during the exciting closing ceremony in Sochi.

The Winter Olympics were exciting right from beginning to end and I, myself, found I didn’t want them to finish at all.

Throughout the past two weeks many people across the nation have been huddled in front of their televisions, urging on our Great British athletes taking part in the games. While we may not have finished in the top ten, we managed to finish in a better position than anyone had first expected. While 4 medals may not seem like a large amount, it’s a big accomplishment.

There were many different sports included in the Olympics this year, such as Ice Hockey, Skiing and my own personal favourite, Curling. The most exciting and intriguing part about it was the fact that the sports included in the Olympics were ones you wouldn’t typically see on TV throughout the year and I think that’s why this year, a wider range of people were interested in watching.

The success of the Winter Olympics in Great Britain has since evolved into something much bigger. Young adults are becoming more and more interested in sports that were included, and it seems that in the next few years, we may be rewarded with even more Olympic-standard athletes. GB have much potential in the coming years to build up a stronger and larger team, resulting in more and more success over time. The Government are looking into funding for more sport facilities in hope that it’ll interest more people and result in an even better time for our athletes next time.

By Nicole Hand. 

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Manchester City vs Manchester United

Manchester City beat local rivals Manchester United 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium thus giving David Moyes his second devastating defeat in 2 weeks.

Sergio Aguero scored twice as City before Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri completed the scoring as City cruised to a 4-0 lead in 50 minutes against their arch rivals. Wayne Rooney hit back with a stunning free kick, but it was a mere restoration of pride as City continued their recent good form against United.

The Blues made one change to the squad that hammered Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in the Champions League in midweek, with Alvaro Negredo surprisingly replacing the in-form Edin Dzeko up front.

United also made few changes, with Ashley Young replacing Shinji Kagawa and Danny Welbeck replacing the injured Robin Van Persie.

City began the half and dominated possession right away, winning corners in the first 15 minutes. United never got going, and found themselves 1-0 down after 16 minutes. Samir Nasri received the ball on the left and his skilful flick found its way to Kolarov. The left-backs cross found Aguero, who hooked the ball spectacularly into the far corner. Aguero’s celebration matched the fans delight.

City continued to pass fluidly throughout the opening period with captain Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure driving the blues forward and stopping Manchester United’s usually counter-attacking play. United looked to have already ran out of options and were left clinging on to a respectable scoreline when Nasri narrowly shot over.

However, right on halftime, City did finally double their advantage. Nasir was again provider as his corner found Negredo, whose header picked out Toure, who had the simple task of nodding home from close range. The goal shook United, who felt they had done enough to go in at half-time only one goal down.

The second half did not bring a change in fortunes for United and the defence were once again proved vulnerable by City’s brilliant passing. A Nasri pass found Negredo, who again assisted as Aguero slid his wonderful cross home, bringing his derby tally to 5 goals

City were in control, and 3 minutes later they added a 4th. Pacey City winger Jesus Navas was allowed to run at the United defence before clipping a delightful cross into the United area. Nasri drove the ball home to the delight of the ecstatic City crowd. The key to the goal was Vincent Kompany. The centre-back carried the ball forward for the blues and forced defenders away from the box as he bolted forward, allowing Nasri to exploit the defence.

United fans must have thought that this could be a repeat of the 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford 2 years ago.

As the game neared the end, United started to improve. Valencia had a penalty appeal turned down and Patrice Evra saw his header bounce against the post and cleared. It didn’t look like it was going to happen for United but Wayne Rooney placed a brilliant free kick in the top corner to give the United fans something to cheer about. The final whistle went, and City fans cheered loudly as they beat their city rivals. City will be hoping gain revenge when they face Wigan Athletic in the Capital One Cup in midweek. United will be looking to bounce back as they face another massive rival, Liverpool, at home In the cup as well.

By Bradley Peterson

[bdnwriters]

Grimsby Literature Festival (GLF): Nick Triplow talk

Nick Triplow delivered a talk to Creative Writing students at the Grimsby Institute on the 15th October as part of the GLF. Talks can be very boring but this was different.

Triplow added personal stories in an unorthodox way of putting across a point. “The best stories are told over and over again.” He then quipped, “Gordon Ramsay is an example. Ramsay making people cry is a story repeated.”

Nick explained the importance of creating drafts of your writing and improving them. “Write a draft and challenge it. I have 5 or 6 drafts for my books. Once you say something is finished, you close it down. It becomes dead work. Theres nothing that says you can’t ditch your idea and start again”.

He went into the important details of writing a story. “When you’re writing your story think to yourself, ‘what do I want from this?’, although what you want from it will change constantly.” Triplow offered some good advice that is vitally important. “If its boring to you, it’s boring to the reader, so change when necessary.”

Triplow continued to talk about publishers and an insight into what you have to do to become a successful writer in the business. “Publishers won’t publish anything if it is under 90,000 words”. He continued, “The best way to be noticed is to hire an agent,  you can also do extra things like promoting yourself on social media. Twitter is a good examples because you could have a worldwide audience.”

After a Q&A session, Nick finished his talk and posed for pictures for some of the students. It had been a very educational talk that may guide the young writers as they try to make it in a competitive business.

By Bradley Peterson