Leisure bosses lavish cash on office refurb as jobs are axed
Leisure bosses lavish cash on office refurb as jobs are axed
Mar 23 2012
by Eric McGowan, Irvine Herald
SHAMELESS bosses at cash-strapped North Ayrshire Leisure are kitting out their new Magnum offices with private showers, flat screen TVs, and top of the range furniture, the Irvine Herald can exclusively reveal.
The cash splurge comes at a time when catering staff are being cut to the bone and cleaners are having their hours cut back.
This week the GMB union blasted the spending as grossly insensitive.
Organiser Paul Arkison said: It beggars belief.
Couple buys Emerick Bros Garage
PARKERSBURG -A local family-owned business operating since 1957 is under the ownership of a new family.
Ed and Tina Leisure this month purchased Emerick Bros Garage at 512 East St., Parkersburg.
The wrecker service and truck repair shop was started in 1957 by brothers Ralph and Lester Emerick, then passed on to their sons Rod and Danny Emerick.
Ed Leisure said he had worked at the garage in the 1980s and had done business with the Emerick family while working as the fleet and operations manager at Arrow Concrete in Belpre.
When (Rod and Danny Emerick) decided last year to retire, they approached Ed to see if he was interested in buying the business, said Tina Leisure.
The couple says the only change in the company has been to turn it into a limited liability company. Several of the existing employees are still working at the garage, and Ed Leisure said the Emerick brothers too will continue to work for the shop on a part-time basis.
It is going to be run with the same integrity its been run with since conception, Ed Leisure said.
The couple said the change in ownership wont effect any existing contracts or service. Emerick Bros Garage serves the trucking industry throughout the region, including West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The couple also plan to continue the family aspect of the business, hiring their son Micah Leisure to work in the office and shop.
It will be the same level of integrity, the same level of service as before, Tina Leisure said.
Leatherhead Leisure Centre to be closed again
A SWIMMING pool which was upgraded as part of a pound;12 million sports centre refurbishment last year will be closed and drained due to a problem with screed in the scum channels.
Leatherhead Leisure Centre, which is owned by Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) and run by Fusion, reopened in January 2011 after an improvement project which took 20 months to complete.
For Business or Leisure: Nonstop Air Service to Europe is Back at PIT
If an international getaway sounds lovely right about now – and how could it not? – then you’re in luck. Nonstop service from Pittsburgh to Europe is returning on March 24.
Beginning Saturday, Delta Air Lines resumes nonstop flights between Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport (CGD) for the spring, summer, and fall travel seasons. The nonstop flight, which connects business and leisure travelers to Europe and beyond, will operate four days a week through June 1, when it will increase to five flights per week.
Flying nonstop from Pittsburgh is truly about convenience: spending less time in customs and avoiding the crowded, delay-prone East Coast airports. The ease of connections out of CDG makes this flight ideal for the region’s many international students and residents keen to reduce the number of stops needed between Pittsburgh and some 100 other global destinations including India, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“It’s a coup for a region the size of Pittsburgh to have nonstop transatlantic service to Europe,” said Ken Zapinski , senior vice president , energy and infrastructure, at the Allegheny Conference, an organization that’s part of the Regional Air Service Partnership, which helped secure the nonstop Delta flight from PIT, beginning in 2009. “It’s great news that the flight is returning after a hiatus during the winter months when travel tends to be lighter. Travelers in the region must now continue to demonstrate support of the flight. Supporting the service is the best way to secure even more international service from Pittsburgh International.”
You can find more information on the benefits of Delta’s nonstop Pittsburgh to Paris flight here or head directly to Delta.com to book your flight now.
Leisure Centre officially reopens
A 100-year-old Nottingham leisure centre will be officially re-opened later after a £9m refit to modernise it.
Work started at the Victoria Leisure Centre, in Sneinton, in 2010.
Hundreds of people marched through the city in 2008, in protest over possible closure plans by Nottingham City Council.
Former Olympic gold-medallist swimmer Duncan Goodhew will join Councillor Cat Arnold to unveil a plaque.
New facilities include a six-lane, 25m swimming pool, a fully equipped gym and a separate childrens splash area.
Part of the centre, the Danielle Beccan Suite, has been dedicated to the memory of the Nottingham teenager who was the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting, in 2004.
The council said it was delighted with the high level of interest since the leisure centre opened to the public on 5 March.
More leisure and parking set for Gloucester Park
New facilities to be built next to Sporting Village
8:00am Saturday 24th March 2012 in Basildon news
By Paul Offord
A NEW bowling green, pavilion and 50 parking spaces will be installed next to Basildon Sporting Village.
Basildon councillors approved plans to put the new facilities on the site of the former Murrayfield pavilion, in Gloucester Park, off Upper Mayne, Basildon, and surrounding parkland.
The move angered members of the Save Our Gloucester Park campaign, who are unhappy another area of parkland will be built over and 36 trees cleared.
The £38million Basildon Sporting Village, including a new Olympic-sized swimming pool, has already been built in the park.
Leisure World Priest Admits to Molesting Boy in Church Rectory
A 78-year-old former Catholic priest from Leisure World pleaded guilty today to molesting an altar boy in the early to mid 1990s at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa, beginning when the victim was 9 years old.
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Denis Lyons, who left the priesthood in April 2004, is expected to be sentenced on May 25 to a year in jail and five years probation. Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno, who accepted the plea agreement the defendant reached with prosecutors, is also expected to order Lyons to complete 400 hours of community service or pay a fine. Lyons could have faced up to 14 years in prison had he gone to trial.
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“The victim has asked to resolve this case without going through a highly publicized trial, Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown told the judge. Another alleged victim, who Lyons was not charged with molesting, was willing to testify to corroborate the named victims testimony, but he also wanted to avoid a jury trial, Brown said.
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That man came forward to allege that Lyons molested him when he was 13 to 17 years old, starting in 1979, but charges could not be filed because of the statute of limitations, Brown said.
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“Im pleased he (Lyons) finally accepted responsibility so that the victims can put this behind them and find some peace, Brown said after the hearing.
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Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was pleased by the plea agreement, but also charged that some Diocese of Orange officials should also be held accountable for “covering up Lyons crimes.
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“Its about time for Denis Lyons to finally see the inside of a jail cell, Casteix said. “But you can tell how traumatized the victims are that they were still reticent to testify during a trial … Its time to hold Diocese officials accountable. They knew Lyons was a molester in the 1970s and they sent him to treatment and then promoted him.
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Diocese spokesman Stephen Bohannon declined comment.
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“Theres nothing we can say. Hes been out of the ministry since 2004 and weve resolved it on the civil level, Bohannon said.
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Lyons attorney, Gary Pohlson, also declined comment, but said his client will likely seek to do his time in a city jail that he would have to pay for. Lyons would have to do 85 percent of the time under todays laws, but its more likely he would only have to do half the time under laws in place at the time, Brown said.
Lyons will probably do his community service with a veterans group, but theres some concern that might not be allowed if he would have access to children at the veterans facility, Brown said. If officials cannot find suitable community service for Lyons, then he could pay a fine up to $5,000, Brown said.
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Lyons pleaded guilty to engaging in masturbation with the victim twice in the parish rectory and twice in the church sacristy from 1992 to 1995, beginning when the boy was 9 and ending when he was 11, Brown said.
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Lyons was put on leave from the church in 2002 and was charged in 2003 with molesting another boy, but he couldnt be prosecuted because the case was
too old, according to a Supreme Court ruling.
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The victim sued Lyons in 2008, prompting his attorney to contact prosecutors. The Diocese settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
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-City News Service
The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend 2012: Highlights From Philip Glass …
The New York Times Arts Leisure Weekend brought New York City four days of rousing discussion with 15 of the most active cultural figures today. Weve curated the best moments from five of these talks, from Carey Mulligans tales of drama school rejection to the incredibly quotable Simon Doonans theory that gay men are French women, but with penises. Read on for more from Alan Rickman, Glass, Mulligan, Doonan, and the cast of The Good Wife, and hop over here to stream the talks online in full.
Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman sat down with New York Times theater reporter Patrick Healy early Saturday morning to discuss acting, his famously distinctive voice, and his role in the new Broadway play Seminar.
- Johanna Barr
Alan, thanks so much for joining us.
Im not awake yet. I dont know that Im actually here.
First theater role?
The very first thing I ever did was at what we call primary school, when I was 7 years old. I played the title role in a play called King Grizzlybeard. I remember my mother cutting a little triangle of fur out of a rug for the beard.
When you started your training at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), how similar was your voice to what we hear now?
What I hear is not what you hear, so I dont even know what youre talking about. Certainly, when I was at drama school it was the source of many complaints, big problems, a great deal of work. A lot of its just to do with the architecture of your mouth, the sound you make, and its about the muscle strength in your tongue, so once it all gets taken apart — you know, I had big problems.
What sorts of problems?
That I had very lazy diction, that I had a spastic soft palate … my voice teacher said, You sound as if your voice is coming out of the back end of a drainpipe. So thats how cruel drama school is. It means, I suppose, basically, that I had to learn to bring it all forward. It was all kind of traveling backward.
Leisure Centre Gets New Sport Surfacing From Playrite
Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre near Blackwood is the third project that has seen Playrite, South Wales Sports Grounds and Caerphilly District Council working together to transform their artificial pitch. Other projects over 2011 included Heolddu Leisure Centre and Newbridge Leisure Centre, both of which have been a huge success and have improved the centers facilities enormously.
The Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre also had a needlepunch surface installed previously, as with Newbridge, and although the surface had served the centre and local schools for many years it was decided that a new 3G surface would provide a better playing surface and increase the pitches usability. Changing the pitch also meant that the centre now had the opportunity to increase the size, and approximately 6890m² of Playrite?s Conqueror 40 was installed in November 2011.
Physical Activity in Work or Leisure Tied to Lower MI Risk
Physical activity during work or leisure time is associated with a significantly lower risk of myocardial infarction, according to a multinational study published online Jan. 11 in the European Heart Journal.
THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — Physical activity during work or leisure time is associated with a significantly lower risk of myocardial infarction (MI), according to a multinational study published online Jan. 11 in the European Heart Journal.
Claes Held, MD, PhD, of Uppsala University in Sweden, and colleagues conducted a case control study using data from patients enrolled in the INTERHEART study in 52 countries. They evaluated survey results from 10,043 patients who had their first MI and 14,217 controls who did not report previous angina or physical disability.
The researchers found that, compared with sedentary individuals, those subjects whose occupation involved either light or moderate physical activity were at a lower risk of MI (multivariable-adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.78 and 0.89, respectively), whereas those whose occupation involved heavy physical labor were not at decreased risk (OR, 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.19). Mild exercise and moderate or strenuous exercise had a protective effect (OR, 0.87 and 0.76, respectively). Across countries with low, middle, and high incomes, the effect of physical activity was observed. Individuals who owned both a car and a television had a significantly increased risk of MI compared with those who owned neither (multivariable-adjusted OR, 1.27).
Leisure-time physical activity and mild-to-moderate occupational physical activity, but not heavy physical labor, were associated with a reduced risk, while ownership of a car and TV was associated with an increased risk of MI across all economic regions, the authors write.
The INTERHEART study was funded by various pharmaceutical companies.
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