March 2008 Archives

A MAN dressed as Darth Vader has attacked a founder member of the Holyhead Jedi church in his garden.

Barney Jones, also know as Jonba Hehol, and his cousin were struck by a man wearing a black bin bag cape and wielding a crutch at his North Wales home on Tuesday at 2.50pm.

The minister of the Anglesey order and spokesman for the Jedi Council said he was left with a sore head follwing the assault.

They were filming a pitch for a TV documentary when the Darth Vader impersonator leapt into the garden.

The incident has been passed on to police who are now investigating.

Barney, 27, said: "It was more stupidity than anything.

"Myself and my cousin were doing some filming for a documentary on the Jedi Church, when we were attacked.

"Someone jumped over our front garden wall wearing a black bin bag cape and said he was Darth Vader, before hitting us with a crutch."

More on this at www.dailypost.co.uk

British GT driver Hunter Abbott was lucky to escape unhurt last Saturday when his Ginetta G50 was involved in a horrific smash at Oulton Park. Abbott owes his life to a group of dedicated volunteers and unsung heroes - Oulton Park's marshals.

Steve Roberts from Wrexham, Incident Officer at Avenue last weekend, was part of a team of marshals on the scene after Hunter's accident. Steve said: "As soon as he went off we knew it was going to be big. After the car flipped over, two marshals went up to it with fire extinguishers, whilst three others from the marshals post at Cascades also attended.

"When it was safe we ran down the hill to help them, but it was difficult to see with all the smoke, fumes and powder. The drivers' door was stuck shut and it was hard to see if he was still in there, but thankfully he was all right".

Although Steve has been a marshal for more than five years, some of Oulton Park's volunteers are much newer to the role. In fact Steve's friend, Paul Davies, was marshalling for the very first time when the accident happened, whilst two others were also new on post.

Steve added: "Since I started marshalling in 2002, I've only attended two fires and they were not on the same scale. It's not that common to have spontaneous car fires but the impact on Hunter's car caused the fuel lines to rupture. It was hard to see the source because of the bent metalwork but we managed to put it out efficiently."

"The whole team handled the situation brilliantly, they coped extremely well. We had a training day at Oulton Park in February and all the marshals put what they learned into practice - everyone knew exactly what to do. I would like to thank everyone for doing a fantastic job, including the fire support and rescue units," Roberts concluded.

Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of MotorSport Vision, would like to thank all marshals, including those who attended the incident at Oulton Park last weekend, for their voluntary efforts and continued hard work at MotorSport Vision's circuits.

SLEEPLESS nights are not expected to be a problem for new dad Antony Probets - as he managed to sleep through the birth of his first child!

In fact he only woke up when girlfriend Gemma McSheffrey put baby Paige Elizabeth in his arms!

Paige is now at home at real ale pub The Fleece in Westgate, Huddersfield, but her crying is still not stirring Antony, who acknowledges that he is a heavy sleeper.

He added: "Paige is fine, no problem. She's not keeping us awake much at night at all."

Twenty-year-old Gemma screamed for help from Antony when she went into labour last Tuesday.

The couple had gone to the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax after she started having contractions, but they were sent home, as the first-time mum was only in the early stages of labour.

But when they returned home Gemma's contractions started getting stronger and then her waters broke.

"Antony is a very heavy sleeper. I can never wake him and he's always the last one up," said Gemma.

"I had a really big urge to push, so I did."

Less than 10 minutes later, at 6.30am, Paige was born in the bathroom, weighing 7lb 3oz.

Antony slept throughout!

The 19-year-old said: "When I realised it was real I was so shocked. I'm sad because I wanted to be there for the birth, but I am so proud of Gemma."

See the Huddersfield Examiner for the full story.

CHESTER University students have smashed the world record for having the largest crowd of Smurfs.

A total of 884 students donned blue face paint, a white hat, white trousers, white shoes and a blue T-shirt for the record-breaking Beans night at RB's on Monday night.

The turnout almost doubled the previous record of 451, set by Warwick University last year.

Beans organiser Mike Hannigan said: "It was phenomenal. When we had counted up the numbers myself and Steve Worrall who came up with the idea went on the stage and made the announcement and the crowd went absolutely bananas."

"I have operated student nights in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds and the big thing about Chester is the students don't do things by halves, they are the most fun university.

"It is like a family where everyone knows everything and everyone gets involved - it is a fantastic place."

Independent adjudicators at RB's had to verify that every student taking part in the attempt was wearing the full Smurf uniform for the record to be valid.

Third year sports sciences student Steve Worrall 22, of Bouverie Street, set up the attempt after finding the previous record was 451.

The rugby club social secretary started a Facebook group for the challenge, and 590 students signed up in support.

The university community faces an anxious wait until March 14 when Leicester students will attempt to snatch Chester's crown.