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BBC News
11-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Anglesey's adopted 'super fans' who've embraced the Island Games
A group of brothers and their friend with no connection to Anglesey have become "super fans" of the island's Rob, Richard and Pete Miller, along with friend Dave Pearson, have attended every Island Games since 2015."It is random that there's four random lads from Hertfordshire that support a Welsh island, but now whenever I go back on the A55 towards towards Anglesey it feels like I'm going to a second home," said the multi-sport games held every other year, their adventures have taken them to the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey but also further afield to Gibraltar and the Swedish island of from Hertfordshire, the self-professed super fans had no prior connection to any of the competing islands or athletes, but are now part of the team's is their commitment to the Ynys Môn cause, they have now been given official roles with the 106-strong team of Anglesey athletes heading out to Orkney for this year's games. The games started in 1985 on the Isle of Man to give the opportunity for young people to compete in an international competition against other islanders. They usually take place in June or July, and involve 24 islands from across the world, meaning participants can meet new people and learn about different now part of the media team, said his initial exposure was the 2011 Isle of Wight games as he was keen to attend the football matches."It was like £20 for the whole week to watch all these games... the likes of your Jerseys and the Guernseys, and then some other islands I've absolutely never heard of," he said."As soon as I got there I was like, this is amazing."And yet the competitiveness but the friendliness of it all.. I knew that I was on to something good."During the whole week I was texting my brothers and my mate called Dave, and I said, 'Look, you've got to come to this next time around, you'll love this'." Deciding that they wanted to support one of the 24 competing islands, Ynys Môn eventually came up trumps and they all travelled to Jersey for 2015 - a tradition they've maintained ever since."When we got there we had some songs prepared, we took flags," Pete added."We wore the same colours as the football team all that kind of stuff, and it was an amazing week. "From that moment on we've just been part of the Ynys Môn family, we've been to every games since, and probably always will." 'The friendly games' Their experience, however, is typical of what have become known as "the friendly games".Held between 12 and18 July the Scottish archipelago of Orkney will welcome about 2,200 athletes to compete in 12 sports including football, athletics, archery and swimming. The 22nd staging of the games will see Saturday's opening ceremony attended and officially opened by the Princess Royal - Princess Anne - and hosted by broadcaster Lorraine will be Orkney's first time hosting the games, with participating islands including those as far flung as the Falkland Islands, Greenland, and Caribbean nations Bermuda and the Cayman Faroe Islands will be next to host the competition in 2027, with the Isle of Man set to welcome competitors in 2029. Anglesey had been due to host the next staging of the games in 2027 but later withdrew due to increased costs and the effects of getting to Orkney is no mean feat, with the mainly amateur athletes having to raise much of the costs themselves. 'A huge commitment' Forming part of the delegation will be gymnasts, for the first time in several years after gymnastics was left off the main games co-ordinator, Catherine Rowley, says reaching the games means a lot of sacrifices for the athletes, who train out of their base in Holyhead. "We haven't been part of the main games since 2017, its a huge difference", she said."A lot of these girls have been doing their GCSEs and A-levels, they've had to balance their revision and all of their time, to miss out on things with their friend."They've given a huge commitment, they train and awful lot of hours."With fundraising we're lucky that the island has really got behind us, the girls have gone in individually to different companies and asked for funding, its been brilliant." Holyhead-based team member Mia, 18, will be taking part in her third Island Games but this will be her first as part of the main Anglesey delegation."I'm really excited to be going and able to watch the other sports as well while we're there," she said."I've had to take a lot of time out of revision so its been hard juggling everything."We've had to hold events like quizzes and raffles to raise money, its been around £700 each for accommodation and the bus."Teammate Nel, 17, from Llangefni says there's a camaraderie between all the gymnasts taking part."I'm happy that everything is now in place and the support has been amazing.. to represent my island and where I'm from is amazing." Anglesey secured its record medal haul at the last of the 18 medals were won in athletics, with the team hoping for more success on the track this time team will be heading out to Orkney with the intention of giving their representing Wales as well as their island, the hope is that the returning party will also include at least a few medals. Athletics co-ordinator Barry Edwards admitted that "momentum had been lost" after Anglesey withdrew from hosting the 2027 Games. However, he said they were taking a young team to Orkney and remained hopeful. Ewan Jones, 20, from Valley, will be competing in his second games in the 200m and the 4 x 100m said: "I'm very proud of being from Anglesey and Wales and I think the competitiveness against other islands really helps."It was such a surprise in Guernsey as to how many people turned up, you almost feel famous."Its hard to describe but its unreal."
ABC News
05-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Surfer Craig Ison suffered nightmares after shark attack at Evans Head, until he made a promise to himself
A punch and a promise shark attack survivor Craig Ison made nearly 10 years ago has kept him alive. Warning: This story contains a photo and graphic descriptions of shark attack injuries. The ex-boxer, who went a few rounds with former world champion Jeff Fenech, reckons a punch on the snout of the great white that bit him at Evans Head on July 31, 2015 stunned it and caused it to let go of his left leg. While in hospital recovering from his injuries, Mr Ison made a pact with himself: to get over the attack mentally, he would never go surfing again. "When I was in hospital I was having some really heavy nightmares," he said. "I would wake up in a sweat because I was in a dream where I had just lost both my legs. "I decided there in hospital, that's it, I'm not going back in the water, and since then I've had no trouble." Apart from the occasional swim in the ocean, Mr Ison has kept his promise, and it has had a positive effect on his life. "If I was a young bloke, I'd push through it a bit," he said. "But I was 51, so I'd had my fair share of waves and I thought 'That'll do me', and since then I haven't had any nightmares." Another factor helping Mr Ison's recovery was Bite Club founder Dave Pearson's intervention. The first rule of Bite Club, a support group for people who have been bitten or witnessed an attack by an apex predator, is you talk about your experiences. Whether it was Mr Ison's attack 10 years ago, or the most recent incident involving a 16-year-old boy at Norries Cove near Cabarita Beach last Sunday, Mr Pearson's support group has been a much-needed lifeline. Mr Pearson said attacks like this would have a ripple effect on the community, particularly rescuers, fellow surfers, first responders, and even people who use the beach regularly. Like many, Mr Pearson watched graphic footage of last Sunday's attack on social media that showed the shark swimming right into the shallows as surfers helped drag the teenager to safety. It reminded him of his own attack by a 3-metre bull shark on the Mid North Coast of NSW in 2011. "The shark followed me all the way to the beach, and that also happens a lot more than people realise," he said. Mr Pearson said, initially, the teenager might feel fortunate to have survived the attack, but his longer-term recovery could be plagued by other problems. "Usually, the mental side of things doesn't kick in until some time afterwards. Usually, it is a period of weeks, or months before you really start to feel the full effects of the post-traumatic stress," he said. Bodhi McDonald was one of the surfers in the water that day. He is also the same age as the teenager who was attacked. "It took us all by surprise because it is such a horrific event to take place at our beach that we surf at nearly every day," he said. Queensland volunteer lifesaver Thiago Collela was also there on the day of the attack and helped an off-duty paramedic apply a tourniquet to stem the bleeding. "The laceration on his bicep was really, really bad. You could see all of the muscle and bone," he said. Mr Collela is a fellow surfer and said the shark attack had made him a bit nervous about getting back in the water. Mr Pearson said the Bite Club covered attacks not only by sharks but lions, bears, and crocodiles. It was also open to anyone who had witnessed an attack. "Those people who are responsible for saving your life can go through quite a lot of trauma afterwards because they second-guess what they did and didn't do," he said. The attack at Cabarita happened in an area covered by the NSW Shark Management Program and the deployment of SMART drum lines. There are four drum lines in the Norries Cove area. These drum lines used baited hooks and GPS communications to intercept and tag sharks near beaches.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Fatal shark attacks make news, but 'dozens' of bites are not reported
Shark attack survivors say a better system for reporting and tracking close calls is needed, as many potentially deadly encounters are not being recorded. The call comes as a 16-year-old boy remains in a serious condition in the Gold Coast University Hospital after he was mauled by what was believed to be a two-metre-long bull shark at Cabarita, on the New South Wales far north coast on Sunday. Gold Coast-based shark researcher Dr Daryl McPhee said attacks were more frequent than people realised, because minor incidents were often not reported. Mauling survivor Dave Pearson encouraged more surfers to report minor run-ins, to create a more accurate understanding of shark behaviour. Authorities conceded that without diligent reporting of shark encounters, there was no way of knowing how often attacks occurred. Dr McPhee, who is an associate professor of environmental science and Bond University, said he knew of minor attacks that went unrecorded. "You can never work out exactly how many, because by definition they are unreported, but it certainly does occur," he said. "They have happened in the ocean from divers poking or prodding something they shouldn't have poked or prodded, and then getting nipped and being a bit embarrassed by it." A surfer was bitten in the Gold Coast's Tallebudgera Creek in September last year and took himself to hospital with arm injuries. According to Queensland Health, five people have been treated for shark bites at Gold Coast hospitals in the past five years, but only two of them arrived by ambulance. In that time, only three incidents across the region — including the deadly 2020 attacks at Greenmount and Kingscliff, as well as the recent close call at Cabarita — made headlines. The Australian Shark-Incident Database (ASID) is the most comprehensive source of shark-bite information, and includes more than 1,200 cases dating back to 1791. The database is run by the Taronga Conservation Society with Flinders University and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. For an incident to be included in ASID, there must be an attempt by the shark to bite a person either in the water or on a small non-motorised craft like a surfboard or kayak. Analysis of the data found the number of bites in Australia each year more than doubled between 2000 and 2020. Marine biologist and ASID project lead Madeline Thiele said the leading hypothesis was that the increase was driven by human population growth, along with the popularity of surfing and diving. Others believed the growth in shark numbers was to blame. Some shark-attack victims said the official statistics failed to capture incidents where surfers were knocked off their boards or chased out of the ocean. While such cases did not involve bites, survivors said the terrifying encounters should be recorded so authorities have a better understanding of shark behaviour. Dave Pearson almost lost his arm to a bull shark 14 years ago at Crowdy Head, about an hour south of Port Macquarie. He said his attack was almost identical to the one at Cabarita on Sunday. Then aged 48, Mr Pearson was knocked off his surfboard close to shore, pulled under by his arm, and then followed by the shark after the encounter. The quick thinking of other surfers who came to his aid and applied a tourniquet saved his arm. He never goes to the beach without a first aid kit and hands out tourniquets to other surfers at his local break. To help process the trauma, he founded Bite Club, a support network of shark attack survivors that now has 500 members worldwide. They share a close bond and keep in touch regularly. Mr Pearson said surfers and ocean swimmers were "certainly reporting a lot more sharks than we used to see". But, he said, there were many reasons why surfers chose not to report coming face-to-face with sharks, including a desire to not scare others, or harm tourism in their town. For a lot of people, however, the only way they could get back in the ocean was to forget the experience and pretend it never happened, he said. "But people need to be made aware of the amount of sharks out there so we can prepare for it."
Agriland
10-06-2025
- Business
- Agriland
10-week old heifer calf makes €13,000 at sale in Donegal
While the calf trade has seen a significant uplift across the board this year, prices reached a new high at a special sale in Co. Donegal at the weekend. Ballybofey and Stranorlar Co-operative Livestock Mart in Co. Donegal hosted the 'Stranorlar Show Stars' sale on Saturday, June 7, with 'outstanding prices achieved' according to mart manager Brian Crawford. Taking the top price in this sale at an impressive €13,000 was 10-week-old Belgian Blue heifer calf Boherard Tiger lilly. Bred by Dave Pearson, this calf was bred from the pedigree Belgian Blue cow Rabeaux Beaudoin and sired by artificial Insemination (AI) bull IZ Priceless. She sold with her recipient cow. The pedigree red Belgian Blue heifer calf's dam Rabeaux Beaudoin has bred progeny selling to £18,000 at sales in Northern Ireland and another of this cow's progeny Boherard Rambo has recently become available via AI. This calf was bought by Nigil Allen from Portlaoise, Co. Laois. The pre-sale Show Champion was exhibited by Shane Mc Ginley from Milford, Co. Donegal, and sold for €10,000. This February-born pedigree Belgian Blue heifer calf was sired by Boherard Overdose and her dam was Sultan Stq. The Reserve Champion title went to a February 2024 born heifer owned by Michael Hanlon from Dring, Co. Longford. Sired by AI Belgian Blue bull Top Side Out and bred off a a Charolais-cross-Shorthorn cow, the entry fetched €4,200 under the hammer. The Breeding Heifer Champion title was claimed by an April-2024-born Belgian Blue heifer, bred by Adrian McCabe from Co. Cavan. Bred off a Limousin-Angus hybrid dam, this entry sold for €6,200 at the sale in Co. Donegal. In GVM Carrigallen Mart, Co. Leitrim, on Saturday, June 7, calf prices reached €1,410 for a suckler-bred Charolais heifer calf with a registered birth date of May 20. A further two suckler-bred Charolais calves sold for €1,100 each at the sale. These calves were all purchased by farmers. Another March-born beef-sired dairy-bred calf made €910 in the sale. In Balla Mart, Co. Mayo on Saturday, June 7, weanling bull prices reached €4,700 or €10.44/kg for a 450kg Belgian Blue-cross bull. Mart manager Michael Nolan said: 'It was amazing how good some weanling bulls were for the time of year. All the best were making over the €5/kg. Bullocks weighing from 300-400kg averaged 5.08/kg. Store bullocks weighing from 400-500kg averaged €4.68/kg while heavier bullocks over 500kg averaged €4.43/kg. The mart manager said: 'There was great numbers of weanlings in the sale – way more than normal for this time of year. 'Prices were way up for the heavier bulls with great demand from exporters both buying around the ring and online causing a serious trade.' Other sample prices for weanling bulls from Balla Mart: 320kg Belgian Blue-cross weanling bull sold for €2,000 or €6.25/kg; 435kg Limousin-cross bull sold for €2,500 or €5.75/kg; 465kg Belgian Blue-cross bull sold for €3,480 or €7.48/kg; 450kg Belgian Blue-cross bull sold for €4,700 or €10.44/kg. The tops were making from €3,000-€4,000, with 450kg weanling bulls averaging over €6.00/kg for the first time. Bull weanlings weighing from 200-350kg averaged €5.08/kg. Bulls weighing from 350-450kg averaged €5.05/kg, with 450kg weanling bulls averaging an impressive €6.10/kg.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Star Refrigeration and Vital Energi join forces to champion large-scale, water source district heat pump projects at UKREiiF 2025
GLASGOW, Scotland, May 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Star Refrigeration will be taking part in the upcoming UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds from 20th - 22nd May 2025, with a focus on large-scale renewable district heating and the central role of river-source heat pumps in the UK's decarbonisation strategy. Prof. Dave Pearson, Director of Sustainable Development at Star Refrigeration, will join a panel discussion alongside Nick Gosling, Group Sales and Strategy Director at Vital Energi, a long-standing Star customer and collaborator. During the session 'City-Wide Clean Heat: A Real Estate ESG Saviour or an Investment Pipe Dream?' which will take place on 21st May from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm, they will explore the pivotal role that river source heat pumps and district heating networks play in achieving Net Zero goals -particularly for cities and large-scale developments. The panel will explain in detail the importance of heat networks as an alternative to gas heating, and how developers can future-proof new buildings while supporting government ambitions. With investment potential estimated between £60 billion and £80 billion by 2050, heat networks represent a major opportunity for decarbonisation through the construction of high-value, long-term assets. However, with less than 3% of UK heat currently supplied by heat networks, the pace of deployment must accelerate significantly to meet the government's 20% target by 2050. "To stay on track, the rollout of heat networks across cities and large-scale developments must at least quadruple within the next five years", said Prof. Pearson. "The expectation for large buildings to integrate clean energy is only growing, and district heating powered by clean water source heat pumps, is no longer a concept for the future. It's a proven, high-value solution that's ready to deliver today." The collaboration between Star Refrigeration and Vital Energi has already delivered some of the most innovative and technically challenging district heating projects in the UK, demonstrating the potential of public-private partnerships for city-scale decarbonisation. These include the 5.2MW twin water source heat pumps at Queens Quay in Clydebank, a 3MW installation at Castle Park in Bristol, and the ongoing £2.5m Mersey Heat project in Liverpool, where heat is being extracted from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal to serve a new 6km heat network. These projects, designed and delivered by Vital Energi with engineering and heat pump technology support from Star Refrigeration, demonstrate how government-backed, large-scale low carbon infrastructure can drive real progress in the UK's heating transition while aiding economic growth for local communities and investors. Each has received recognition from the European Heat Pump Association, marking them as exceptional in terms of scale, environmental impact, and technological soundness. Prof. Pearson said, "This event is an opportunity to show that the shift away from gas is not just possible: it's already happening. By working with partners like Vital Energi, we're proving that river source heat pump technology is ready to meet the needs of urban infrastructure at scale. "Sustainable buildings are now seen as lower risk, more resilient, and capable of commanding higher prices and better financing terms. With the market shifting, we see a clear opportunity to collaborate with developers to accelerate decarbonisation projects and help stakeholders avoid the looming 'ESG meltdown'. If we get it right, clean heat won't just reduce emissions – it will improve asset value, investor confidence and public health". UKREiiF 2025 is a must-attend real estate, property, and infrastructure event taking place in Leeds from 20–22 May at the Royal Armouries Museum and New Dock. Over 16,000 professionals from government, investment, development, and the wider built environment will gather to drive investment and regeneration across the UK's regions. Attendees of the session will also receive a complimentary "grab bag" lunch. To view and register for UKREiiF 2025, visit To learn more about Star Refrigeration's river source heat pumps for district heating, visit To learn more about Vital Energi's work on district heating networks, visit: Notes to editors Founded in 1970, Star Refrigeration is the UK's largest industrial refrigeration and heating engineering company, renowned for its innovative solutions and commitment to sustainability. The company has received widespread recognition for the development of high-profile projects including the world's first and largest 90oC natural ammonia district heat pump in Norway, England's largest high-temperature water source heat pump in Bristol City and Scotland's largest water source district heat pump in Queens Quay, West Dunbartonshire. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Star Refrigeration
