Latest news with #Edmonds
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: Noel Edmonds prepares to marry his wife – for the fifth time
9pm, ITV1 It's been the unexpected eccentric hit of the summer, but it's time to say goodbye to Edmonds and his new life in New Zealand. First, though: he wants to marry Liz … for a fifth time! After all, there is a chapel on their estate. He calls on his global operations director ('GOD') to prepare the ceremony, while Edmonds tries to rescue his flailing business. 'I totally accept that there are people who totally dismiss me as being crazy,' he says. 'Am I bothered about that? No, I'm not.' Hollie Richardson 8pm, Channel 4 With one week until the grand reopening of Peacock & Verity, volunteers in Masham race to perfect their beloved Victorian grocers. Although the cafe is complete, a striking window display is still needed, so the team visits Castle Museum in York in search of inspiration. Ali Catterall 8pm, Sky Witness It's a triple-whammy for the Windy City series, with this bumper crossover episode bringing together the Fire, Med and PD strands. The catastrophic event uniting all the responders on this occasion is a gas explosion, which causes a fire and results in a subway tunnel caving in. HR 9pm, Sky ComedyCarrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and friends have more light drama to deal with as the third season of the now much less cringeworthy Sex and the City sequel continues. Old flames, new romances and the intoxicating promise of Carrie becoming a (pretty cheesy) novelist are all swirled together in another sweetly escapist update. Jack Seale 10pm, Channel 4 Look out for a couple of new waiters in this series: Gerald and Kyle, who love to entertain. They will be serving Rebecca, who needs to find someone half-decent (anyone?) who is also a fan of Boris Johnson. Then there is Anna, who wants a beach buddy – will a surfer do? HR 10.50pm, BBC One A double bill of the warm and amiable US mockumentary that shows flashes of greatness. Supervising nurse Alex is horrified to discover that she is the executor of her colleague Joyce's will. Elsewhere, poor online reviews irk the medics, even as a fed-up Dr Ron declares: 'Who cares … it's a hospital, not a Mexican restaurant!' Hannah J Davies Wicked (Jon M Chu, 2024), 10am and 8pm, Sky Cinema PremiereIf you consider yourself a musical agnostic, Wicked might be best enjoyed on a television screen. Consumed in one sitting – so long, so many songs performed at such an unwavering high intensity – anyone undecided might find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer onslaught of the thing. But if you are ready for the plunge, Jon M Chu's Wizard of Oz prequel is an extravaganza. The performances are fantastic, especially Ariana Grande, whose years spent toiling down the Disney Channel mines manifest themselves in a remarkable lightness of touch. The ambition is faultless. And if you aren't moved by the walloping final performance of Defying Gravity, you may be dead inside. Stuart Heritage Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires (Paul Hoen, 2025), Disney+ If you are an adult with unfiltered access to the broad sweep of horror, perhaps Disney's Zombies franchise has passed you by. But if you are a child – sufficiently interested in horror to want to dip your toes in, but not quite ready for outright gore – Zombies is manna from heaven. It's High School Musical, in essence, but with a vaguely supernatural bent. Previous instalments have introduced werewolves and aliens; this time, we get vampires. Featuring songs such as Don't Mess With Us and Kerosene, it's lightweight fluff, but highly enjoyable. SH
1News
07-07-2025
- General
- 1News
Free lunches feeding children in need, say ECEs
Early childhood centres in the government's free lunch scheme say it is reaching children who live in poverty. Despite initial revolts against vegetables, they say children are enjoying the meals and more centres should be included. More than 8000 two to five-year-olds at more than 300 early childhood centres have been receiving food through the scheme this year. They were included at a cost of $4 million a year when the government revised the free school lunch scheme to cut per-meal costs and save $130m a year. The early childhood scheme pays charity KidsCan to send ingredients to participating centres, which then cook the meals including vegetable curry, ravioli, and tuna pasta salad. ADVERTISEMENT Jo Edmonds, the owner of Manaaki Tamariki Early Learning Centre in Rotorua, said the scheme was a big improvement on the lunches parents had been providing. "Their behaviour is different because they've got nutritious meals. With lunchboxes there's a lot of packet stuff so we have found that there's not a lot of sugar so behaviour has changed," she said. Edmonds said the children also had more conversations and interactions when they had lunch. "We eat like a family, we brought that homely feeling into the centre with all the children sitting down and having a meal together." The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including deadly Texas floods, Australian woman attacked by a lion, and Elon Musk's new political party. (Source: 1News) Edmonds said families were noticing a difference too. Children were eating food at home that they had previously refused and one parent with two children at the centre said it was saving her $70 a week. ADVERTISEMENT "Also, we're not having children not attending because they don't have lunch. So attendance is higher," she said. Mel Jeffcoat - the operations leader at Kids Campus, a community-owned non-profit centre in Tauranga - said some of its families were struggling with poverty. She said prior to joining the scheme, families were expected to supply food for their children, but some were unable to do so. "We had about seven children that we were actually supplying food to because they weren't having anything. We didn't want food, kai as we refer to it, to be a barrier to them coming so we just supplied it," she said. Jeffcoat said in the past she probably would not have agreed that the government should feed children, but she supported the scheme and wanted it extended further. "My view has changed because society's changed and poverty is so real and I think that people don't really understand, particularly if you're not working with children or you're not living in a community where that's really evident," she said. Matt Dol, the owner of Little Parrots in Mount Maunganui, said children attending the centre used to bring lunch from home and initially some were not happy with the vegetables in the free lunches. ADVERTISEMENT "At the beginning it was a little bit disheartening because we were having a lot of wasted food that was served and they weren't touching. Now it's amazing. There are great conversations going around the table about food, there's great social interaction as well," he said. Mikayla Manston, the owner of Kai Kids Preschool in Kaitangata, said the centre used to provide lunch itself but now it could use that money to provide more resources for the children. She said children had definite favourites such as a vegetarian version of butter chicken made with chickpeas. KidsCan founder Julie Chapman said the scheme was reaching more than 8000 children, in addition to about 6000 KidsCan was already feeding. She said the inclusion of profit-making centres in the scheme had attracted criticism, but their children deserved it as much as those at non-profit services. "Even some of those that are privately-owned are barely washing their face in terms of being able to cover costs and resourcing and the children that go to those centres are living with this food insecurity," she said. Chapman said the programme cost about $2 per meal per child and there had been no food safety problems or complaints. ADVERTISEMENT She said the scheme would soon be extended to more centres to bring the total number of children to 10,000. Chapman said the ministry used its equity index, based on data about children's socio-economic backgrounds, to identify centres that could be included. She said KidsCan had identified about 60 more centres that needed its help and it would be interesting to see how many of those were tagged by the index.
NZ Herald
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Noel Edmonds and wife Liz to marry again: Hot tub proposal at television star's New Zealand home
British television star Noel Edmonds will have a wedding in his new home in New Zealand, after proposing to his wife in a hot tub on his Tasman estate. It will be Edmonds', 76, and wife Liz Davies', 55, fifth wedding: 'We've been married a lot. But we want
Sky News AU
03-07-2025
- Sky News AU
Karl Stefanovic clashes with advocate calling for males to be banned from childcare centres after man charged with disturbing offences
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic has clashed with an advocate calling for male staff to be banned from working in childcare centres. The on-air debate comes after Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was charged by police on Tuesday with sexually abusing children at a Melbourne childcare centre. The 70 alleged offences Mr Brown has been charged with have sparked a controversial debate on whether men should be allowed to work in childcare centres. Child abuse victims' advocate Louise Edmonds who is the founding member of the Independent Collective of Survivors clashed with Stefanovic over the controversial call to ban men from working in childcare centres. 'Banning male workers is a pretty extreme call, isn't it?' Stefanovic asked. Ms Edmonds conceded it was 'extreme'. 'But the thing is, we're now seeing this is the third case of huge amounts of children being exposed to alleged pedophiles and alleged child sex abuses in a childcare centre,' she said. She noted that men made up fewer than 8 per cent of the childcare industry. Stefanovic hit back and insisted men 'have a right to work in that area'. 'And so many of them are dedicated. The perception is already hard enough for them. And when a story like this happens, it makes it even more difficult for them. They're dedicated professionals,' he said. 'Yes they are,' Ms Edmonds said. 'And without, you know, staining all the good men who are in there wanting to be positive role models for the young boys who are in daycare centres, there are some measures that can be taken. 'We actually have to look at the safety first and foremost of our most vulnerable citizens, which are our children, and a lot of them are voiceless. 'So children start communicating well at around two years old. The children under two years old, they cannot speak." Stefanovic argued it was a 'sensitive topic and protection of kids is the utmost importance, but when you're talking about inequality, banning men just for being men, that's the very definition of it'. Ms Edmonds stood by her word and said there is a "sad reality" where there is so much lived experience and evidence and data around child sex offenders, and 97 per cent of them are male. 'And this is a scary topic and a lot of people, we don't want to talk about it because it's so horrific when it comes to the abuse of children," she said. The advocate said a measure that could be put in place 'literally overnight' would be a waiver for parents to opt-in or out of having a male carer look after their child. On Wednesday, Today Extra host Sylvia Jeffreys called for the Albanese government to ensure this issue is at the top of their agenda. 'The parents who are going through this this morning, it needs to be at the top of ... the federal government's agenda today and tomorrow and every day until we see change,' Jeffreys said. Mr Brown, from Point Cook, was charged with sexual activity in presence of a child under 16, sexual assault of a child under 16 and possessing child abuse material for use through a carriage service. Police are alleging the children targeted were aged between five months and two years and worked at 20 childcare centres since entering the industry in 2017. Mr Brown has remained in custody since his arrest in May. All the centres he previously worked at have been compiled into a list and released to the public in what police describe as a move made "out of an abundance of caution". The Victorian Department of Health has also activated a public health response, urging parents to have their children screened for infectious diseases, depending on their potential exposure during the period of alleged offending. A parent of one of Mr Brown's possible alleged victims spoke to the ABC about the 'sickening' moment they were informed their child may have been abused. When the child's mother received the email notifying her of the alleged crimes her heart 'just fell through my stomach'. '(It's) heartbreaking. It's just these pure little innocent kids,' she told ABC's 7.30. 'My kids were enrolled at one of the daycare centres that was impacted. Thankfully, it was only one day that he was at that centre.' Meanwhile, a second man, Michael Simon Wilson, was charged as part of a major probe into child sex abuse in Melbourne. He is reportedly known to Mr Brown and is facing 45 charges including rape and possession of child abuse material. Mr Wilson's charges are not related to any childcare centre and involve different alleged victims. Fresh details emerged on Thursday after Mr Wilson was reportedly seeking threesomes on a casual sex site before he was arrested as part of a significant investigation. Both Mr Wilson and Mr Brown are due to face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on September 15.
1News
01-07-2025
- Climate
- 1News
British TV star Noel Edmonds' wellness centre hit by floods
British TV presenter Noel Edmonds has shown the damage done to his River Haven estate in Ngātīmoti after the extreme weather which lashed parts of the country last week. The 320ha estate near Motueka was purchased by Edmonds and his wife, Elizabeth Davies, in 2022 and also houses a cafe, pub, vineyard, general store and wellness centre. In a video uploaded to YouTube, Edmonds explained he was reviewing his business in New Zealand after he lost 'three years of hard graft' in 'just a few hours'. While showing damage to the wellness centre, Edmonds said it was built 'in accordance with all the local regulations', but it was taken by the 'full brunt of the torrent' during the storm. (Source: River Haven TV/YouTube) ADVERTISEMENT 'It was constructed about 50 metres away from the riverbank, and about some 10 metres above the normal water level. 'The two beautiful treatment suites and the gardens have been wrecked, indeed one was torn from its foundations and thrown across the creek, the doors were torn off the outside gym, and the lovely Bali bridge at the entrance has been destroyed.' The doors were torn off the outside gym, Edmonds said. (Source: River Haven TV/YouTube) Photos were also shared throughout the video showing the destruction, and the floor of the main building which was 'covered in a thick layer of silt and mud'. One of the treatments suites had been "torn from its foundations" and "thrown across the creek", Edmonds said. (Source: River Haven TV/YouTube) Edmonds said he and his wife were in 'a state of shock' following the incident but he expressed great concern about the locals in the region who were already in tough times. 'We're talking about people who were already finding the economic situation very difficult. ADVERTISEMENT 'I really don't know how they're going to recover from this disaster.' (Source: River Haven TV/YouTube) Edmonds also showed his appreciation for how the community responded. 'I am in total awe of how our Kiwi neighbours have picked themselves up [and] pulled together as a community … I saw one interview where some people who had their home washed away said 'well, we'll come back and rebuild our lives.'' 'That is the spirit which drew me to New Zealand in the first place. Liz and I are not feeling sorry for ourselves, but I have to say that we're not really sure of the way forward.' Concern over highway barrier (Source: River Haven TV/YouTube) ADVERTISEMENT Edmonds expressed concern with the damage to a barrier of rocks which ran along the highway near River Haven. 'The work to protect the highway in front of the River Haven was so important not just for the local community, but also for the economy of New Zealand. 'The foundations of the highway are now exposed, repair will be a really significant engineering undertaking, maybe made more difficult because of course it's the winter. 'Restrictions on this highway always have a negative impact on the community and its local businesses, closure would be a disaster for the South Island economy.'
