The opening of the new fire service training complex took place this afternoon, with chief fire officer Kevin Groom describing it as an ‘absolute fantastic training fercility for the firefighters of the Isle of Man’.

Mr Groom said: ‘While the live fire facility is still in its early weeks of operation, it is already providing to be a tremendous asset and I look forward to its future as a multi-use training complex.’

The facility consists of 12 shipping containers and can provide firefighters with training in almost every scenario.

The fire service had previously been sending officers to England for training courses that would cost up to £10,000.

An experienced and successful sidecar racer died after running wide at a notorious bend on the TT course.

Coroner John Needham recorded a verdict of misadventure on Ian Bell, a 58-year-old company director from Bedlington in Northumberland, who died after an accident during the second sidecar race on June 10 this year.

Chief sector marshal David Dentith, who was on duty at Ballaspur where the accident happened, said he saw Mr Bell approach the corner. He said Mr Bell’s passenger, who was his son Carl, seemed to be towards the middle of the outfit, close to the rider, rather than hanging to the left as the outfit approached the left hand bend.

‘The wheel of the outfit lifted gently, quite high, and the rider seemed to be fighting it. The wheel carried on lifting and the outfit collided with the air bales then bounced back and carried on,’ Mr Dentith said in a statement read out in court.

The outfit came to rest further up the road on the right hand side and the race continued under waved yellow flags at the accident site, warning riders to slow down and be prepared to stop if necessary.

Mr Bell was pronounced dead at the scene and a post mortem examination by pathologist Dr Christopher Clague said the cause of death was blunt force trauma, causing injuries to Mr Bell’s head, neck and chest.

Mr Bell’s Yamaha R6-powered LCR outfit was examined but found to have no defects and examination of the accident scene found the road was clean and dry and visibility was good.

Film footage taken at the scene appeared to show Mr Bell’s number six outfit approach the left hand bend on the right hand side then apparently run wide of the corner.

Delivering his verdict, Mr Needham said: ‘This was entirely unforseen and accidental in nature. The activity is inherently dangerous and that is why TT racing deaths are usually recorded as misadventure. The court heard Mr Bell was extremely experienced having first competed in the Isle of Man in 1979 at the S100.

Offering condolences to Mr Bell’s family, he added: ‘It may be trite but it is also true to say he was following his passion.’

A Douglas man has been convicted of deception after conning his victim out of £1,200 in a tobacco deal.

David Michael Yeomans, of Christian Road, met the complainant in an alleyway in Ballaugh after offering him tobacco over the phone.

But as soon as the cash had been handed over 36-year-old Yeomans jumped into a car and left without completing the deal.

He will be sentenced on December 6 in summary court after the preparation of a probation report.

Prosecutor Michael Jelski told the court how, on June 22, Barry Gelling received a phone call from a man with a Welsh accent who he said he did not know.

The Welshman said he had got Mr Gelling’s mobile number from an associate and asked him if he would like to buy some tobacco.

Mr Gelling said ‘yes’ and he was told to call the man back later, which he did. He was then asked if he wanted to buy 200 50gram packets of rolling tobacco for £1,200.

The deal was agreed and the Welshman said he would call back the next day.

At midday on June 23 the man rang Mr Gelling and told him to meet him at 6pm in the car park by the Raven pub in Ballaugh.

As he was waiting in the car park Mr Gelling had another call from the Welshman saying that a man called Tony would meet him at 6.30pm outside Spar.

‘Tony’ arrived and told Mr Gelling to drive to the alleyway at the side of Spar.

Once they were in the alleyway ‘Tony’ handed over a small bag containing a few packets of tobacco, with a hand-written receipt, in exchange for the cash, and said that the rest of the tobacco was in his car.

‘Tony’ then walked towards the shop, but as he did Mr Gelling received another phone call, again from the Welshman, who told him not to follow ‘Tony’ into the shop as he would lose his job if he did.

However, while Mr Gelling was talking on the phone, ‘Tony’ ran to a car and drove away without handing over the rest of the tobacco.

Mr Gelling tried calling the Welshman’s number several times and was told that he would receive the rest of the tobacco soon.

Eventually he called the police and after viewing CCTV footage from the Raven and Spar, Yeomans was identified as being the man who had called himself ‘Tony’.

Yeomans was arrested and identified from an ID parade as well as his handwriting on the receipt.

He told police that he had been acting alone, although this was queried by the prosecutor and Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes, as Mr Gelling had received a call from the Welshman while Yeomans was nearby.

However, Mrs Hughes concluded that this would not make any material difference to the sentence imposed.

The probation report is to consider all options, including custody. Bail was granted in the sum of £500.

Hospice’s Mary Doyle has said they were unaware a popular fundraising event held during this year’s Douglas Carnival would land them with a bill.

Mrs Doyle was speaking in the wake of a £830 charge levied against the charity towards cleaning up costs following the Colour Me Rainbow event held during this year’s procession in July.

The Colour Me Rainbow feature sees supporters hurling cornflour-based powder paints at one another, and this year raised around £10,000 towards the hospice’s £4 million annual running costs.

Mrs Doyle was keen to stress the charity had an excellent working relationship with Douglas Council and had not complained to the media about the charge. However, she said she had been taken by surprise when it was imposed.

‘No one actually said to us that they were going to invoice us for half the cleaning costs,’ she said.

‘The first we knew about this was a call on October 10. Even as a charity, you can’t expect everything to be given to you free. You have to be practical and I would not have disputed it had I known. But it’s three months after the event; there was no discussion with me and I’m the only one that can sign it off. People make donations and don’t like to think part of it might be used on road cleaning.’

Councillors decided at a meeting last December to impose the charge towards cleaning, which was carried out at no cost to the charity following the Rainbow event in the 2015 carnival. At the same meeting they also decided to ask Hospice volunteers for extra help marshalling the event.

Council leader David Christian pointed out the charge covered only half the cost of the cleaning and that for the first two years the rainbow event had run, no charge at all had been made. He said this year’s charge was made ‘following discussions with Hospice representatives’.

‘Had Hospice chosen to stage the Colour Me Rainbow independently, rather than “piggy back” onto the carnival, the costs they would have incurred would have been considerably more and the organisational logistics of the event would have fallen to them.

‘It is not council practice to clean up public highways for third parties,’ he said.

Councillor Christian echoed Mrs Doyle’s view that the council and Hospice had enjoyed a cordial relationship and was therefore asking for only half the total cost incurred.

Mrs Doyle said 85 per cent of money raised from donations, legacies and events was spent directly on patient care and the charity was deeply indebted to all its supporters.

‘It is imperative that every penny raised is used to fund care – to receive a bill for over £800 for road cleaning of an event held in July is a sad culmination of what was a great event co-partnering with Douglas Borough Council.

‘Whilst I understand their need to recover costs, at no stage did Hospice sign any agreement to this bill nor did we verbally agree,’ she said.

This is the time of year when we receive lots of calls from the public about seal pups appearing to be stranded on our beaches.

We’re always on hand to give advice about specific sightings, and we will intervene if necessary, but the vast majority of seal pups don’t need any help.

Both the Atlantic grey seal and the harbour or common seal can be found in Manx waters. In the autumn, females come on to land to give birth to a single pup.

Usually they pick remote locations, such as the Calf of Man, although sometimes pups can be seen on the mainland too.

The female leaves her pup while she goes out to sea to hunt for food and so a passer-by may assume the pup has been abandoned.

The ManxSPCA is working closely with Coastguard and Manx Wildlife Trust to co-ordinate responses to seal pup sightings.

If the pup appears to have no physical sign of injury, it will be left in situ for at least one turn of the tide. The biggest threat to the pup comes from dogs, and from the close proximity of humans, which may scare off the mother seal.

If the mother seal does not return, the pup will be brought to live in one of the seal pens at Ard Jerkyll, but this really is a last resort.

Older seal pups have better life chances when they come to us, because they have already started to eat fish.

Older pups sometimes become exhausted in rough seas, and simply need time to recuperate on land and so, as with the very young pups, they need to be observed in situ for several hours.

If they don’t go back out to sea then a few days spent in our seal pens enables them to gain body weight and strength, and to be checked over by a vet, before they are released back where they came from.

The seal pens are located at the side of the small animals unit, and can be viewed from the outside. We will let you know when the first pup comes to us so that you can come to Ard Jerkyll and take a look at him or her.

Seal pups might look like cute fluffy creatures, but they can be aggressive and they can bite.

In contrast, Bolt, the little guinea pig, is very cute and fluffy and completely non aggressive!

She is desperately seeking a new home with another guinea pig because her partner died, and now she’s on her own.

Bolt is only two years old, and given she could live until she’s eight she should give her new owners years of enjoyment.

She will need an outdoor run and suitable, weatherproof housing with ample hay to keep her warm and for her to graze on throughout the day.

Her favourite fresh food is celery, but she likes most vegetables and because she has long hair she will need to be groomed daily, which is something she really enjoys.

We have two beautiful long-haired cats with us at the moment with similar grooming requirements.

Smokey and Guinness are 12-year-old siblings who had a loving home for many years, but their previous owner had to move house and could not take them with her.

Smokey (female) is an unusual tortoiseshell, grey and white colour and Guinness (male) is black and white

While they enjoy each other’s company they like to have human company too - they are incredibly affectionate, and will nuzzle and purr loudly at anyone who takes time to sit with them in the socialisation room.

They need a quiet, peaceful home with no young children, ideally with an owner who can spend time with them. Please come and meet them.

Our annual Christmas craft and artisan fair is being held in the PlayBarn at Ard Jerkyll this coming Sunday, October 30.

There will be a huge variety of unusual and creative things on sale, with local artisans showcasing their talents.

The fair starts at 12pm and finishes at 4pm, and it’s the perfect opportunity to buy your Christmas presents early, or simply to treat yourself to something special.

It has been a long time coming but preparations are now being made for the Disability Discrimination Act to be put into action.

There is little less than two months before the Disability Discrimination Act 2006 (DDA) starts its phased introduction.

The law was passed almost 11 years ago but not enacted.

Now the Department of Health and Social Care has prepared several publications to assist service providers in understanding their duties under the Act.

From December 15 it will be unlawful for a provider of services in the Isle of Man to discriminate against a disabled person in how goods, facilities and services are provided and in the disposal or management of premises.

Six new publications are available:

What service providers need to know

Good practice guides, one tailored to accessible retail and the other to accessible cafés, restaurants and hospitality

A self-assessment checklist for service providers who may wish to consider the accessibility of their service, and an action plan to follow up any improvements noted in the self-assessment checklist. These documents may help those service providers that wish to consider their service accessibility ahead of the Act’s introduction

A sample customer service policy relating to providing goods and service to people which service providers may tailor and adapt to show their commitment to making their services available to disabled persons.

These publications are available for download at www.gov.im/dda under ‘downloadable documents’ along with the previously published Guide for Small to Medium Businesses, the Code of Practice, and Guidance on the Meaning of Disabled.

In December 2015 Tynwald approved an Order to bring the DDA into force, in stages, with the final phase commencing in January 2020. This approach has been taken to give service providers and property owners time to make any reasonable adjustments to comply with the legislation.

Flashback to a previous story about this.

Claire Amelia Quirk married Danny William Kermeen from Ramsey at St Mary De Ballaugh Church.

Their reception was held at the Empress Hotel in Douglas.

Claire works as a customer services advisor at Lloyds Bank and Danny is skipper of ‘Ramsey Jak ‘Manx fishing vessel.

We print wedding photos for free.

Email newsdesk@newsiom.co.im and attach a photograph.

Include details such as the name of the bride and groom (or partners in a gay or lesbian wedding), where they live and where the reception was held.

Please always include a telephone number.

A humanitarian aid trip from the Isle of Man to Romania is now well over the half way stage.

Travelling marshal and former MGP competitor Jim Hunter has teamed up with two other Manx Grand Prix competitors, Ronnie Russell and Ian Pert, to follow in the footsteps of TT star Joey Dunlop.

Joey, who won 26 TT races, made aid trips to deliver goods by van to Romanian orphanages during the 1990s.

Jim conceived the idea during this year’s Manx Grand Prix and has so far raised around £5,500 through the social media site Facebook and a Justgiving account.

The trio set out last weekend supported by a free ferry crossing courtesy of the Steam Packet. They have also thanked Ocean Motor Village for the free loan of the van which would have cost over £1,000 to hire for the period.

‘This idea is very much inspired by the late, great Joey Dunlop. We have spoken to charities which work in Romania and will be filling the van with things that they have asked for and driving down there to deliver,’ said Jim.

Thw trip has seen them drive just short of 2,000 miles from Heysham to Radauti in Romania. The route has taken them through Folkestone, to Calais via the tunnel, then through Belgium to Germany. From there they crossed the Austrian border and travelled via Vienna to Hungary then Romania.

On arrival they spent a few days with Romanian charity workers Ian and Sue Paxton, who have liaised with them prior to the trip.

Jim said: ‘We are planning a different route on the return, coming back through Ukraine, Poland and Germany.’

They return this weekend.

As well as giving support to the Romanian children, the trip is also a memorial to Manx road racer Billy Redmayne, last year’s Junior Manx Grand Prix winner who died in an accident at Scarborough, Yorkshire, earlier this year.

Any surplus money will be donated to the Billy Redmayne Memorial Fund.

You can donate at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/vantripforbilly

A group of friends who meet for TT every year have dedicated a bench at Braddan Church to one of their group who died last year.

Gerd Körner, from Darmstadt in Germany, died unexpectedly just over a year ago on October 3, 2015, aged 70.

He had been coming to the TT for almost 30 years, meeting up with local friends and others from around the world.

Now his friends, which included former-chief minister Tony Brown OBE, have clubbed together to ensure his memory lives on by dedicating a bench.

Tony said: ‘Gerd was a biker and avid TT fan. During his time on the island he acted as a volunteer interpreter for German bikers, and their families, who needed assistance due to hospitalisation after a motorcycle accident.

‘Gerd’s “Isle of Man Friends”, as we were known, meet up every year, and on one evening during TT week everyone, including his family and German friends, would get together and meet for dinner and a chat.’

Tony said that he first become friends with Gerd in 1987 when he assisted him with a problem and the pair remained close.

In 2012 Gerd was awarded the Federal Service Cross by the German government, which is similar to the OBE honour awarded by the Queen, for many years of public service as mayor of Darmstadt and a councillor.

Tony continued: ‘Many of Gerd’s friends from the island and around the world travelled to Darmstadt to celebrate his 70th birthday with him on August 12 last year, with his family and friends there.’

Tony said: ‘As his Isle of Man friends we decided to purchase a memorial bench to remember him and applied to have it positioned at Braddan Church facing the TT course.’

The group held a short service, led by Reverend Daniel Richards, which was attended by Gerd’s widow Helga, who travelled from Germany especially for the dedication.

A Maughold teenager has been ordered to perform 160 hours’ community service after hitting a biker while driving his car on the Mountain Road.

Tobias William Cowin, aged 19, of Booilushag, Ballajora, pleaded guilty to causing serious bodily harm by driving without due care or consideration.

He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs.

The court heard how, on June 25 at 4.30pm, the biker was riding his Honda VRF 800F on the Mountain Road from Ramsey to Douglas.

Cowin was driving his BMW with his younger sister as a passenger on the same road in the opposite direction.

The weather was described as fine, with the road dry and visibility good.

Cowin was the third vehicle in a line of four and after the vehicles had gone round a right-hand bend, Cowin moved out to overtake the two vehicles in front of him.

However, as he overtook he saw the motorbike coming towards him and braked heavily. He said that his four wheels locked and he started to skid.

The biker also braked and went up on to its front wheel, throwing the rider off. The rider hit the front nearside corner of the BMW.

A witness in one of the other vehicles said that they were travelling at about 45mph going around the bend, then heard heavy braking and saw the BMW.

The rider was tended to by members of the public before being flown to Aintree Hospital.

When police questioned Cowin, he said: ‘I came around the bend and thought the road was clear. The bike was suddenly there and I didn’t know what else to do’

He was arrested and taken to police headquarters.

Prosecutor Michael Jelski said that the biker spent 11 days in hospital after suffering seven fractured ribs, a punctured lung and shoulder injuries.

Defending Cowin in court, advocate Peter Taylor handed in references on behalf of his client which said the incident was ‘out of character’ and that it had had a profound effect on Cowin.

Mr Taylor said: ‘These are very difficult matters to sentence and mitigate.

‘This could have resulted in a caution but Mr Cowin is in court because of the outcome. The probation report paints a very positive picture.

‘He is working and aiming to go to university. He has not driven since the incident and has referred himself to mental health services because of anxiety.’

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said: ‘You undertook the overtaking manoeuvre so the responsibility was on you to ensure the road was clear.

‘But there was no suggestion of excessive speed or any other criticism of your driving.’

Gymnast Nick Harvey, a member of the Isle of Man Sports Academy, finished sixth in the vault finals of the Northern European Championships at the weekend .

A tremendous double twisting straight tsukahara vault saw him qualifying seventh for the final of the apparatus.

Two further high-value vaults saw him improve on his position to finish in sixth, thrilled, under such pressure, to have landed an Olympic-standard vault.

The championships were held in Trondheim, Norway and the island sent both women’s and men’s teams.

This event is one of the highest standard events open to the Manx, with fierce competition this year from top gymnasts from Scotland, Wales, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

This prestigious event provides an excellent opportunity to gauge performance against the best, formulate new training regimes and aim for consideration scores for the Commonwealth Games. 

A squad of nine island gymnasts were selected for the trip.

The women’s team consisted of Grace Harrison, Nicole Burns, Isabel Hester, Aoife Donnelly and Madison Nicol.

All the girls had individual highlights on different pieces, with Harrison delivering a clean and difficult bar routine and Burns performing a well-landed pike tuskahara.

Hester’s floor was the highlight of her competition which was full of energy and well-performed tumbles, while Donnelly’s strong and powerful tsukahara vault contributed well to the team score.

Nicol, competing at her first Northern European Championships, delivered a competitive and difficult beam routine.

It was unfortunate that with a number of injuries among them, their overall performance was not enough to finish at the top of the rankings.

The men’s team comprised of Harvey, Lawrence Godsel, Glenn Yates and Harshul Measuria, all improving personal scores and landing some new moves in what was a very competitive competition.

All four competed across all six apparatus with particular quality performances on floor and parallel bars by Measuria, improving on his previous overall score.

Godsel’s strength was seen in his performance on floor and vault, which saw him land some difficult twists and tumbles, while Yates competed steadily on all pieces with his best performance on parallel bars.

The gymnasts now return to training to focus on their forthcoming competitions and with aims of building their start values, perfecting routines and goals of selection for next year’s Island Games in Gotland and consideration scores for Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in 2018.

Thanks to Isle of Man Sport for its support through the Academy for Harvey and Nicol as well as TLC Business solutions through Sport Aid for Harrison. Special thanks also goes to team manager Jill Gillings and coaches Jiong Qi and Gennady Tsyganov.

Everton FC juniors have become regular visitors to the island in recent years and were once again in action at the Bowl on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday evening under the floodlights they took on an Isle of Man Junior Football League Development team and played a three 20-minute matches.

The first 20 was a very even affair and the local boys missed several chances before the Toffees scored the opener.

In the second 20-minute period the Blues added a further two goals before the Isle of Man juniors got the better of them in the final 20 with a fantastic free-kick from Rushen United’s Lochlann Denham to make it 3-1 overall.

Sunday saw the annual Cu-Plas Cup with junior teams from Laxey, Onchan, Marown and Peel joining Everton and the island’s Junior League Development side in the competition.

The Mini Toffees and the Isle of Man team eventually met each other in the final after they both topped their respective groups and the final was a tight affair with the boys from Merseyside running out 1-0 winners to successfully retain the cup.

Michael Fitzmaurice, lead coach of the IoMFA Junior Football League development group, commented: ‘The weekend was a great success and a fantastic opportunity for our young footballers to test themselves against footballers from one of the best academies in England.

‘Quite a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to put this event on so I would like to thank Brian Callow, David Quirk, Lee Dixon as well as fellow coaches Paddy Horne, Richard Jackson, Tracy Craig and John Gartland for all their work in making such a good weekend possible.’

Before Saturday’s match, a minute’s applause was held in memory of local boy Jake Watson the 14-year-old Blues supporter who sadly passed away recently following an asthma attack.

Members of Jake’s family were also presented with a signed Everton FC shirt from the visitors.

Peel residents have been given advice on how they can have a bigger say in the town’s future.

A meeting was held on Tuesday at the town’s Centenary Centre with the aim of educating more people about planning processes.

It was organised by campaigners who protested about the regeneration of Peel’s Market Place, including commissioner Hazel Hannan.

Mrs Hannan feels that the protests about the Market Place plans started too late, after a historic sandstone wall had already been demolished, and that people need more advice on how they can become involved with planning applications.

She said after Tuesday’s meeting: ‘The meeting was well attended and we had a very lively question and answer session.’

During the meeting, Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas, and director of planning policy in the cabinet office, Diane Brown, talked about the government’s Strategic Plan for the west of the island.

Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture senior planning officer, Sarah Corlett, also spoke about planning applications, making comments on plans and attending planning committee hearings and appeals.

Mrs Hannan also handed out the Oxford Character Assessment Toolkit, which is a planning document to aid local people to assess the attractions or otherwise of the neighbourhoods they live in.

She says that people need to be ready for the next round of regeneration plans for the west which are proposed for 2017/18 and could include Peel, German, Patrick and Michael or even the north, as far as Ramsey or even just local developments.

Mrs Hannan said: ‘One of the areas of concern was the lack of financial support in the way of grants for properties in the conservation area, when it costs so much more to comply with the standards required in the conservation areas when doing building works.

‘There were a number of Peel Town Commissioners present and it was agreed that we would seek ways of displaying planning applications locally in the library and on notice boards.’

The £1.16m work on the Market Place started in March. However, when the wall outside St Peter’s Church was replaced with white steps in August it sparked outrage among residents and two protests were held with Mrs Hannan branding the project a ‘disgrace’ and ‘vandalism’.

Following discussions with regeneration project manager Steven Stanley it was agreed that further plans to fill in the church gateway with the sandstone from the demolished wall and remove the metal arch above it would be scrapped.

Who will join St George’s and St Mary’s in December’s Cu-Plas Railway Cup semi-finals remains to be seen after another set of intriguing results in the Canada Life Premier League.

Peel and Corinthians look likely to join the already qualified duo, but both need three more points from their remaining games starting with the westerners who face Ramsey at Bowl on Saturday evening.

Rushen had started the day well placed to join the Saints in the cup draw, but lost 5-1 to DHSOB in a cracking clash at Blackberry Lane.

Chris Coxon put the hosts 1-0 up inside four minutes before Rushen had a leveller ruled out for offside.

David Quirk’s curler doubled the hosts’ lead to give Wayne Kennedy and Ben Qualtrough’s side a two-goal advantage at the break.

Rushen made a bright start to the second 45 but found themselves further behind when Gary Quirk struck his first of the match.

Mike Williams pulled one back for the Spaniards, but substitute Aaron Hislop soon restored Old Boys’ three-goal lead.

As the game continued to open up Gary Quirk added his second to leave Rushen relying on Peel and Corinthians to drop points if they are to secure a top-four place.

The latter need three more points from their rearranged games with St Mary’s and Union Mills to move into the top four at the season’s midway point.

They kept their bid on track with a 5-2 win at Douglas Athletic on Saturday afternoon.

Laxey, who needed to beat St John’s by a comfortable scoreline to sneak into the the top four, drew 3-3 with the Johnners.

League leaders St George’s beat Union Mills 9-2, while second-place St Mary’s triumphed 4-1 at Colby in the top flight’s other matches.

The big match at the top of JCK Division Two ended all square at leaders Braddan.

Foxdale twice took the lead through Aaron Costain only to be pegged back by Kieran Krypner and Andy Glover who netted a dramatic stoppage time penalty.

Castletown remain in third after they beat Gymns 6-1 at the Stadium thanks to hat-tricks from Alex Crawley and Dan McLoughlin.

Douglas Royal are a further point behind after they came from behind to beat Douglas and District 4-2.

Onchan are up to fifth after they continued their good recent run with a 2-1 win at Marown.

Tony Sewell’s revolution at Governor’s Athletic continues apace as they picked up a third win of the campaign beating RYCOB 3-2 at Bemahague.

The game between bottom two Michael and Malew was postponed as no referee turned up.

Saturday, October 29

Canada Life Premier League

St George’s 9-2 Union Mills

Colby 1-4 St Mary’s

Douglas Ath 2-5 Corinthians

DHSOB 5-1 Rushen

Laxey 3-3 St John’s

Peel E-E Ramsey

JCK Division Two

Governor’s Athletic 3-2 RYCOB

Castletown 6-1 Gymns

Braddan 2-2 Foxdale

Marown 1-2 Onchan

Michael P-P Malew

Douglas Royal 4-2 Douglas and District

Canada Life Combination One

Union Mills 4-2 St George’s

St Mary’s 7-1 Colby

Corinthians 11-3 Douglas Athletic

Rushen 5-3 DHSOB

St John’s 2-7 Laxey

Ramsey 1-4 Peel

JCK Combination Two

RYCOB P-P Governor’s Athletic

Gymns 2-1 Castletown

Foxdale 0-3 Braddan

Onchan 6-1 Marown

Malew 2-4 Michael Utd

Douglas and District 4-5 Douglas Royal

Vagabonds’ women’s side went down 17-0 to Chester Devas at Ballafletcher in Women’s NC North One on Saturday.

The win took Chester ahead of Vagas in the standings, with the Manx side dropping from fourth to fifth place.

Results: Saturday, October 29

South Lancs/Cheshire Division One

Douglas 40-15 Bowdon

South Lancs/Cheshire Division Two

Vagabonds 14-22 Liverpool Collegiate

South Lancs/Cheshire Division Three

Prenton 22-28 Ramsey

Women’s NC North One

Vagabonds 0-17 Chester Devas

Shimmin Wilson Manx Shield

Ramsey B 64-26 Douglas B

Vagabonds B 0-89 PDMS Southern Nomads

Emerging Nomads 5-60 Western Vikings

A former gambling addict has been handed a suspended sentence after admitting driving twice while he was disqualified.

Kevin Stephen Quirk, of Heather Lane, Douglas, also pleaded guilty to two offences of driving with no insurance.

He was sentenced to 14 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years’ and also banned from driving for 12 months’.

In September 2015, 45-year-old Quirk received an 18 month driving ban for driving while disqualified and was also ordered that he must retake his test before driving again.

However, on July 19, he was spotted by police pulling into the car park of McDonald’s at 5am.

He was also spotted that same morning on Rencell Hill in Laxey at around 5.30am.

The court heard that, when police visited Quirk’s address, his wife answered the door and seemed surprised to find the car, which she said was registered to her daughter, was not there.

He was arrested by police soon before 8am.

Quirk said that he had gone out to try to find medication because one of his family was ill but had called at McDonald’s.

Having initially denied breaching his driving ban and driving without insurance, Quirk changed his plea to guilty.

Defending Quirk in court advocate Peter Taylor handed in a letter from his client’s wife.

Mr Taylor said: ‘He drove from Peel to Douglas and wanted to find some medication. While he was out he realised he was not working the next day so he went to Laxey to drop off some tools so he wouldn’t have to bring them in the next day.

‘If he goes to prison his family will suffer far more than he will, he is used to it. But he is the main breadwinner and would be unable to work.

‘He feels remorse that his stupid acts will cause his family great difficulties. A suspended sentence may well snap him out of this behaviour.

‘He is asking for mercy. He has received considerable support from his wife. She believes he has changed.’

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes commented that, until 2010, Quirk had led a virtually offence free life but said that she was aware of his gambling difficulties.

Mr Taylor added: ‘He had a gambling problem, falling into debt. He realises he’s in the last chance saloon.’

Mrs Hughes said: ‘It seems your addiction caused you to start offending. It’s a very big step to release yourself from that addiction and you deserve credit for that. I have noted the heartfelt letter from your wife and you must be grateful to her. There are just about grounds to suspend the sentence but you are very much in the last chance saloon.’

On Wednesday evening, October 19, the Isle of Man Photographic Society held an open digital competition at Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road, Douglas.

Our president, Tony Curtis, introduced Ray Kelly as our judge for the projected digital images

There were 34 entries in the three classes.

Before judging any pictures Ray remarked that there were no bad images in tonight’s competition.

He also commented that an extraordinarily high proportion of the images entered were natural history photographs - about half of them had birds, animals or insects as their subject.

Results for the standard class:

3rd: ‘Look No Hands’, a monochrome image of a surfer balancing on a surf board by Tim Norton.

2nd: ‘Flying towards the Sunset’ by Kevan Osborn. A distant bird flying into the sunset with Bradda Head in the background.

1st: ‘Cormorant, Douglas Harbour’ by Michael Howland, a very sharp and nicely posed cormorant on an orange buoy. Ray commented that the photo would have been better if the buoy had been a different colour, but there was nothing the photographer could do about that!

Results for the intermediate class:

3rd: ‘Angel Wings’ by Sue Leeming. A beautiful sharp action shot of a gull in flight.

2nd: ‘Quarry Falls, Laxey’ by Barry Murphy. A very attractive long exposure shot of this small waterfall, including a rainbow.

1st: ‘The Puffin’ also by Barry Murphy, a pin sharp photograph of a puffin in profile, with lovely colours.

Results for the advanced class:

3rd: ‘Horse Play Time’ by Chris Nicholls.

A dynamic and colourful action shot of the white horses in the Carmargue. Ray commented that the picture could have been improved if more of the water in the foreground could be included to show fully the reflection of the horses.

2nd: ‘Flying Puffin’ by Sue Blythe. A good image of a puffin carrying fish flying directly towards the photographer.

Unfortunately the weather had been cloudy, so the colours in this picture were quite dull.

1st: ‘Chukka Chase’ by Bob Servante. A beautifully timed action shot taken at a polo match in the Isle of Man this year.

The horses were pin sharp, and remarkably the shot was timed so that all eight hooves were off the ground!

The best photograph of the evening was judged to be ‘The Puffin’ by Barry Murphy.

Unfortunately none of the three excellent photographs of puffins shown was taken in or around the Isle of Man.

Richard Shafto

There will be an opportunity for the public to find out a lot more about their family history.

A family history open day, held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 12, will be taking place at their chapel on Woodbourne Road, Douglas.

Elder Karren, event organiser, said: ‘We are excited about this event and we hope to help those attending feel a pride and bond with their island and family heritage.

‘We want to help make people more aware of the wealth of information located at the Douglas iMuseum, and the Isle of Man Family History Society in Peel.’

Visitors will be able to see online Manx newspaper records from 1792 to 1960, as well as parish registers and registered deeds indexes.

This has been made possible by the iMuseum, who have provided a free subscription for the public to use at the event.

The public will also be able to use the largest online genealogy organisation, FamilySearch. Which has 5.3 billion names from all over the world, gathered over the past 100 years.

Elder Karren and his wife, Sister Karren worked at the Family History Library in Utah, USA, where they learnt about FamilySearch.

Now they are hoping to help people discover their own family tree.

As the event is taking place a day after Armistice Day and on the eve of Remembrance Sunday, military historian Dean Johnson, will be giving a speech with war memorabilia on display, as well as the opportunity for the public to pay their respects.

There will also be lessons on how to use FamilySearch, and organisers are also willing to make appointments to meet individually with anyone wanting extra help using the website.

The open day runs from 12pm to 4pm, with free entry to the public.

A new musical director has taken up the baton at Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band.

This may be a new role for Ken Mitchell, who has taken over from John Collings, but he is a familiar face in music.

Band secretary Simon Court said: ‘Ken comes from a very musical family and is well known in island musical circles, particularly through his business and association with Douglas Town Band.’

He added: ‘Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band looks forward to a long and fruitful association with Ken, who will build on the good stewardship commenced by Ian Astill and John Collings.’

Over the coming months, the band will be working on music for 2017, which will be a mix of traditional, contemporary and modern for all members of the community.

‘Some of these works will be a challenge, but Ken is certain that the band members will succeed,’ said Simon. ‘Music tastes are changing and Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band must continue moving forward to meet changing trends, both from its audiences, the community and its players.’

The training band, Balley Cashtal Brass (BCB), continues to progress under the dynamic stewardship of Barbara Cole, providing a stream of new players for the silver band, ensuring its the future.

Ken will also work with Barbara to provide backup and support and assist with the introduction of BCB members into Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band. Potential new members for both bands can contact Simon Court, phone 204137, or email simon.court10@gmail.com

Ken’s first stint as musical director is tonight (Tuesday) at Castletown Civic Centre for the band’s version of ‘Last Night of the Proms’, with canons, confetti and fun; guest soloist is Gloria Ballakrishna. Admission is £3 and the coincert starts at 7.30pm.

A 20-year-old Douglas man has been sentenced to 180 hours’ community service after a social media video captured his crime.

Mahmoud Ali El Meligy, of Castle Street, pleaded guilty to a charge of affray, as well as two counts of possession of cannabis.

The affray offence was only brought to the attention of the police when a woman attended police headquarters and showed officers video footage that had been posted on the social media app Instagram.

It showed an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old man in Villiers Square in Douglas on August 16.

El Meligy was identified in the video as the attacker.

The video showed El Meligy confronting his victim before launching an attack with punches and kicks which lasted around two minutes.

One witness tried to intervene but was pushed away by El Meligy, who said: ‘That’s the first one. I’m waiting for five more.’

After his arrest, El Meligy told police the attack had been retribution for an attack on him by the victim and a group of men a few days earlier.

El Meligy said that he had seen his victim outside Iceland in Chester Street and had followed him and assaulted him.

He told police that he thought it was acceptable and that the man had deserved it.

He added that he had chosen to wait until they were in Villiers Square as he had not wanted children to witness his attack.

In two other separate incidents, on June 6 and September 11, El Meligy was charged with possessing cannabis said to have a street value of £15.85 and £41.59.

Defending El Meligy in court, advocate Peter Taylor asked for credit to be given to his client for his early guilty pleas and admissions to police, and handed in references on behalf of his client.

Mr Taylor said: ‘The affray is the most serious offence but the background has been mentioned. My client was assaulted by several young men, hit with a bottle over the head and kicked while on the ground. Regrettably police have not been able to take any action. I think even the most law-abiding person would feel aggrieved.

‘But this is no juridiction for vigilantism. He should have turned the other cheek.

‘He is a young man who was incensed and took matters into his own hands. He knows he should not have done.’

A probation report rated El Meligy as a low-risk of re-offending.

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said: ‘Any offence involving kicking is serious. It was a volley of kicks and punches to the victim’s head, lasting about two minutes.

‘There is no place for that sort of vigilantism. It was fortunate the injuries were not serious.’