Month: April 2016

Members of a Teesside judo club are seeing double thanks to fighting twin sisters.

Twins Rachel and Eve Jackson both fight for Thornaby Pavilion Judo Club along with other members of their family.

And both  girls have just been selected for the 2016 England squads and  both will represent the Great Britain team in the Pre-Cadet squad.

The girls are also joined by their other sister Grace and their brother Joe in the sport.

Rachel is currently topping the U/40kg Performance league tables for wins by Ippon.

Rachel is excelling in every aspect of the sport, despite missing the Sportif International due to a fractured wrist.

Eve is also excelling in Judo.

Judo is a fiercely compeititve sport, and Eve is currently Ranked 7th in the table at the moment.

Also Eve will be part of the Pre-Cadet squad for the GB Judo team.

Both Rachel and Eve will be competing in the World Championships in Tokyo in Japan.

 Delighted father Rob said: “Both Eve and Rachel have been training really hard for the British Championships which marks the highlight and end of the judo season.

“As a result of their performances they have both been selected for the England Judo Pre Cadet squad for 2016.

“They are determined to keep developing as judo players and know this will mean lots of hard work.”

from Tside

A late winner sends Boro top of the table.

With thanks to the hero of the night, Adam Forshaw, the Riverside Stadium erupted into a scene of roars and emotion.

“I was beginning to doubt that we would get the three points out of this match, but when Forshaw scored the place blew up,” Boro fan,Mark Williams said.

After a promising start, with an early goal from Nsue, Boro looked likely to have another three points in the bag.

All that changed after half time when Reading’s Simon Cox, bagged the Royals an equaliser.

After that the game looked likely to end in a draw, after Middlesbrough struggled to get their second goal.

As added time arrived, the stadium crowd began to descend, many disappointed as they thought Boro had failed to win their game-in-hand, which would have sent them top of Championship.

All that changed in the 94th minute, when with virtually the last kick of the game, Adam Forshaw managed to scramble the ball into the back of the net, finally getting Boro their second goal, but most importantly, getting, considerably three of the most important points of the season so far.

Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka said: “All of them deserve to be in this position.”

“I cannot be prouder than I am of them at this moment.

“I felt when Adam scored that we are together and the crowd was amazing.”

Forshaw’s priceless injury time winner  fired Boro into the top position and it was clear to see how much it meant to Boro and their twelfth man.

Mark Williams, a Boro fan for over 40 years, said: “The most important thing is we got the three point and we’re top of league.”

“We need to keep the pressure on Burnley and Birghton and continue on top form for this final push”.

With only five games left of the season, Teesside is hoping Boro can stay in their strong form and win the race to the Premier League.

from Tside

Catfish and The Bottlemen said farewell to their 2014 debut album The Balcony, with show stopper of a gig at The Dome in Doncaster.

The tour, which started off in Glasgow on April 4 marks it’s final play of The Balcony, before the release of their much anticipated second album, The Ride.

The four piece Indie Rockers, sent off The Balcony in style, with a 15 song set list.

Packed into The Dome, there was a sea of hands and a sudden shriek, as the guys entered the stage.

Starting with one of the most popular songs from the 11 track album, ‘Homesick’, echoed back and forth from every inch of the room.

Straight into another huge hit, there was no stopping the boys.

The recognisable beat of the distinct paring of the guitar and the drums, rippled through the air.

‘You’re simpacticooo’, vibrated through the air, it could only be ‘Kathleen.’

Lead vocalist, Van McCann religiously encouraged fans to wave hands and mimic lyrics, creating a festival feel to the gig.

 

 

The Llandudno rockers, teased fans with not only three but, four new singles from their upcoming album.

Soundcheck, Anything, Red and 7, gave us a flavour of what to expect from The Ride, which is released May 27.

The pace slowed down at Hourglass, the only slow song of the show, revealing Van’s strong acoustic vocal chords and it being the only relatively calm part of the gig.

The frontman, was genuinely thankful to the crowd, thanking the fans repeatedly.
“Honestly Doncaster, thank you very much for coming down tonight and selling this place out,” Van said in disbelief, as he mischievously stood on the speaker, overlooking the whole crowd.

The band couldn’t have ended the gig on a higher note, with three massive tracks, not forgetting the monumental guitar solo at the end of Tyrants.

New track 7, intertwined with old classic, Cocoon.
The effect of Cocoon carried on through Tyrants and on until after the show

Tyrants was the show stopper, the band put their all in to it, even extending the prolonged guitar solo.

With the new album released in just over a month, playing at major festivals such as T in the Park and Reading and Leeds, this is a big year for the Catfish lads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

from Tside

THE Constantine art gallery threw open it’s doors to launch a new exhibition, The Gift Project.

Created by Teesside University’s Principal Lecturer in Design, Rob Burton, the project focused around 13 artists collaborating over gifted fabric.

Rob, Head of Design, gifted the artists plain fabric which they interpreted in their own way, all reflecting their own practise. This included videography, screen printing and lighting.

“The idea came when I visited an exhibition in Lisbon last year,”  Rob said.

“I began to think how fantastic it would be to collaborate with the  people I knew and “gift” them a piece of my art, which is fashion.

“I had no idea what to expect from this project but the results are  outstanding. Each piece of fabric has been interpreted in different  ways and turned into something unique.”

With the 13 artists located in nations across the world, the  Constantine gallery is now home to art from Japan, America and  Austria.

The exhibition even features a contemporary twist with the political piece “A gift from my fathers” nodding towards the recent SSI closure and loss of industrial heritage.

“I want the students to realise that in 2016 we don’t work alone, we work internationally,” Rob said.

“This is a celebration of talents and in the future I hope to get the students involved, so we are all giving and receiving each others art.”

The Gift Project is due to jet off to Ukraine and Portugal in the summer months.

“Keep your eyes open for more collaborative art in the future, this project is just in it’s first steps,” Rob said.

 

See The Gift Project now at the Constantine art gallery.

 

from Tside

A special awards ceremony has been held to honour disabled sports men and women in the North-East.

The 13th North East Disability Awards recently took place at  the Dolphin Centre in Darlington.

The awards celebrated the sporting achievements and acknowledged the work of participants; coaches and clubs throughout 2015.

Over 240 guests from the world of sport were in attendance at the event, with over 120 individuals and clubs nominated for the ten awards on offer.

The awards up for grabs were; Team of the year, Female Personality, Male Personality, School Award, Participant Award, Service to Sport, Coach of the Year, Young Female Achiever, Young Male achiever and also Outstanding club/group award.

Male Personality award went to Iain Nairn, Captain of the England Cricket Disability team.

Iain captained his team to the first World Cup for physical disability cricket in September 2015 played in Bangladesh, and televised to 10 million people.

Iain has played for England Physical Disability team in his chosen sport for 3 years though 2015 was his first role as captain.

What shone through his nomination was not simply his and his team’s success on the international stage but also the  role he plays in publishing his sport and the wider disability.

Iain was  described as an ‘amazing ambassador for his sport (whose) ability to engage and involve an audience is a true gift and his humble approach to doing so is a true testament to his character and ability to inspire

The Female Personality went to Jemma Robinson for her Olympic Power lifting.

Jemma won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Federation Championships held in Vancouver.

Her silver medal performance in the power lifting discipline of the deadlift, at 105kg, represented an increase of 50% from her starting weight at the beginning of the season.

The Young Achiever awards were won by Amy Carr and Patrick Beunkenholdt.

Amy represented Great Britain for the second time in her career in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport World Junior Games.

She also competed for England in the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association World Games in Nottingham where she won silver for 100m and long jump and a gold for the 4x 100m relay.

Patrick has a visual impairment and has enjoyed his sailing boat from a young age, however, he initially thought he would always be sailing in a boat with someone else at the helm.

He competed in the North Zone Championships in September 2013 where he came first in the regatta against fully sighted sailors.

In 2015 he sailed the Traveller series and came 4th, RYA NE youth championships and came 4th, also he sailed the IOCA Optimist Nationals in Pwelli and came 101st out of 155.

In December he competed in the Euromed Championships in Malta coming 43rd out of 55 in the Bronze fleet.

Patrick took a moment to tell us what he thought about the event: “it was really good and interesting to meet other people like me”

Jean Lordon, Executive Director of Tees Valley Sport said: “In this Paralympic year it is great to share the evening with over 240 nominees and guests to celebrate the ever growing field of disability sport.

“We would like to congratulate all those who were nominated and thank our sponsors and the Tees Valley Inclusive Dance company who premièred their new dance inspired by sport, choreographed especially for the evening.”

Fred MacKenzie won the service to sport award, he is a former paralympian and is the driving force behind the Parkhead and Wansbeck Power sports club.

The event was organised by the regional County Sports Partnerships, supported by the English Federation of Disability Sport and sponsors D&P Trophies, Future Sport, House of Type, Metro Rod North East, SMILE Through Sport, Transforming Culture, Newcastle Development League, Darlington Borough Council and Rotary North East.

The Results from the awards evening are as follows:

Team of the Year – Sponsored by Rotary North East: Sunderland Deaf AFC

Female Personality – Sponsored by House of Type: Jemma Robinson

Male Personality – Sponsored by Darlington Borough Council: Iain Nairn

School Award – Sponsored by SMILE Through Sport: The Kings Academy

Participant Award – Sponsored by Newcastle Development League: Bernard Bousefield

Service to Sport – Sponsored by D&P Trophies: Fred MacKenzie

Coach of the Year – Sponsored by Metro Rod North East: Lee Fawcett

Young Female Achiever – Sponsored by Future Sport: Amy Carr

Young Male Achiever – Sponsored by Future Sport:Patrick Beukenholdt

Outstanding Club/ Group award – Sponsored by Transforming Culture: Beamish Dynamos & Special Olympics Gateshead.

 

 

 

from Tside

An EU Referendum is to be held on the 23rd June, about whether or not the UK should remain in the European Union.

It’s been 42 years since the UK has been part of the European Union and it could be argued that Britain has it’s lost control as a nation.

The UK is becoming more and more constricted by the EU, up to the point where we are being completely dominated by it.

If British citizens vote “Yes” to coming out of the EU, the UK could actually benefit and be able to restore British customs and traditions again.

It’s certain that leaving the EU would save the government billions in membership fees, as they would be no longer contributing to the EU budget.

Full Fact states, Britain paid £13 Billion to the EU last year; A huge amount of money, that could be used elsewhere in the British Economy.

By coming out of the EU, the UK will be able to re-establish itself as an independent nation once again.

However, remaining in the EU means we will continue being controlled by politicians that haven’t been elected  by us and that aren’t from our nation.

It also prevents our government from changing law and and stops us from choosing the people who make big decisions that will change our lives.

Britain will be able to find more manageable ways to deal with influx of immigration into the country, as we are currently held back by “free movement” for all EU citizens.

By gaining control of our borders once again, this could significantly decrease the threat of terror to our country.

Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who has come out in favour of Brexit, says we are leaving the “door open” to terrorist attacks by remaining in the EU.

“This open border does not allow us to check and control people,” he says.

So, is the UK better off out?

Make sure you make your vote count, by registering on this link here.

 

 

Credits:

By Guillaume Paumier – Own work, CC BY 3.0, http://ift.tt/1QbOpnM

from Tside

 

Since the announcement  of a referendum on the EU David Cameron has faced a backlash from not only his own party back benchers but also several high profile government and Conservative Party figures who all have joined the campaign to leave the European Union.

Iain Duncan Smith, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have all gone against the PM’s decision to campaign to stay in the EU.

Some of the above and figures such as Nigel Farage and Paul Nutall will play a significant role and have a strong voice in the leave campaign.

But the issue of leaving and remaining within the EU have arguments from both the left and right of politics.

When the British public last went to vote on Europe, they were voting on the decision on whether Britain should become a part of the Common Market.

They weren’t however told that they would be voting to join an organisation that would be increasingly centred on ever closer political union.

Leaving the EU would benefit Britain greatly as we would be able to make and implement our own laws without approval from the EU.

Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg are responsible for more than half of the UK’s laws.

Democratically elected British MEP’s voted against 576 EU proposals between 2009 and 2014  but 485 still passed and became law.

The UK Government itself was taken to court no less than 23 times for failing to implement laws between 2007 and 2011.

Also the top 100 EU regulations cost the economy £33.3 billion per year. The EU has introduced over 3,500 new laws affecting British business.

Being able to pass our own laws is a right the British people deserve to have back. But voting to leave would mean voting to control our own economy and trade with the world as an independent nation.

The European Union is in economic decline. When we joined in 1973 the EEC accounted for 37% of world GDP. Today it accounts for less than 20%

And British exports to the rest of the world are growing twice as fast as the UK’s exports to the rest of the EU.

 

UKIP MEP Jonathan Arnott, said: “We want to be able to take our democracy back.”

“We  will get back the £55m a day we give to the EU which can be spent on our own economy.

“Everywhere will benefit from voting to leave. The EU had an impact on the recent closure of the steelworks in Redcar.

“North East MP’s who are voting to remain in the EU represent project fear. There has been a lot of fear over the loss of jobs at Nissan in Sunderland who have already said they would keep the factory open.”

One of the main issues is being able to take back control of our own borders.

Britain is currently obliged to accept all persons entering from Europe. regardless of their skill level.

 

The late Tony Benn, a well-respected politician and Labour Party activist summed up the sentiment of those in favour off a “Brexit” when he said on the EU:

“When I saw what the European Union was developing, it was very obvious what they had in mind was undemocratic.

“In Britain, you vote for the government so the government has to listen to you, and if you don’t like you change it.”

 

 

from Tside