ESSEX — Regional land trust Essex County Greenbelt held its annual meeting recently at the Allyn Cox Reservation headquarters in Essex.
Members gathered for the annual business meeting, enjoying a creative potluck social before honoring the 2012 recipient of the Al Creighton Conservation Award and the service of three outgoing board members and celebrating the 25th anniversary of the leadership of Executive Director Edward O. Becker.
Greenbelt established the Al Creighton Conservation Award in 2011, during its 50th anniversary year, with the intention of annually recognizing a leader in regional natural resource protection. In presenting this year's award to former Ipswich River Watershed Association Executive Director Kerry Mackin, Becker acknowledged that under her leadership, the association has gained widespread recognition for its work to improve river protection and use water resources wisely. During her 20-year tenure, it has grown from a small, volunteer-run organization to an award-winning organization with a strong professional staff, a permanent riverfront headquarters and a record of improved protection of the Ipswich River.
Board member Mickey Culver delivered the report of the Nominating Committee and announced the election of new board officers serving for one year: president Holly Langer of Boxford, vice president Doug DeAngelis of Ipswich, vice president Barry LaCroix of West Newbury, treasurer Mickey Culver of West Newbury and secretary Peter Loring of Prides Crossing.
Elected by the membership to join Greenbelt's board of directors for terms expiring in 2015 are Peter Dorsey, Wenham; Tom Ellsworth, Essex; Philip Lake, Hamilton; John Morris, Newburyport; Ann Nichols, Prides Crossing; Spencer Purinton, Newburyport; and Betsy Shields, Ipswich. Becker also acknowledged the longtime service of outgoing board members Lee Cunningham of Gloucester, Susanna Weld of Essex and Michael Wood of Hamilton.
Essex County Greenbelt is a member-supported nonprofit land trust that has protected almost 15,000 local acres since 1961. Greenbelt works with local communities and landowners to acquire and protect farmland, wildlife habitat and the scenic landscapes of Essex County. To learn more, visit www.ecga.org or call 978-768-7241.
Source: www.newburyportnews.com
Sussex Stakes News: Frankel heads 36 entries - Betfair
Superstar Frankel has failed to intimidate the opposition for the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on August 1 with 36 horses making up the initial entry...
Sir Henry Cecil's four-year-old, the world's best racehorse with a Timeform rating of 143, won the Sussex Stakes last year when comprehensively beating the 133-rated Canford Cliffs in a match-up that was known as 'The Duel on the Downs'.
The fourth-best horse in Timeform's 64-year history, Frankel made a sparkling return to action when taking the Lockinge at Newbury earlier this month by five lengths from Excelebration and is now undefeated in 10 starts.
Canford Cliffs' handler Richard Hannon is clearly determined to be the one to topple Frankel, however, as the champion trainer has entered four for the Sussex, namely the 123-rated Dubawi Gold, Newmarket 2000 Guineas fourth Trumpet Major, unbeaten Richmond Stakes-winning juvenile Harbour Watch and Strong Suit, last year's Jersey, Lennox and Challenge Stakes hero who was a late defector from the Lockinge.
David Redvers, racing manager to Strong Suit's owners Qatar Racing Limited (also part-owners of Harbour Watch) has stated today that the first-named colt is definitely being aimed at the Sussex Stakes as he enjoys the track and the belief is that the race will be perfect for him.
Redvers went on to explain that Strong Suit is pencilled in to make his eagerly anticipated return to action in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot next month, while Harbour Watch may also reappear at the meeting (presumable in the St James's Palace) if he is ready in time or alternatively could head straight to Goodwood.
Harbour Watch also has the option of the Lennox Stakes if heading to Goodwood without a run.
Aidan O'Brien is responsible for a staggering 14 of the 37 entries, including English Guineas winners Camelot and Homecoming Queen, as well as Irish 2,000 Guineas victor Power.
The master of Ballydoyle also has Excelebration entered, along with multiple top-level winner So You Think, though that horse, who has a stallion career in the Southern Hemisphere beckoning, is more likely to take in either the Queen Anne or Prince of Wales's at Royal Ascot before ending his racing career in the Eclipse at Sandown.
Jim Bolger's Parish Hall and the John Oxx-trained Born To Sea are the other two Irish-trained entries, while Irish 2,000 Guineas runner-up Foxtrot Romeo and the Roger Charlton-trained Top Offer are just some others involved, along with Godolphin's Australian import Helmet.
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Full betting on the Sussex Stakes can be found HERE.
Source: betting.betfair.com
Sam ditches Essex ... that’s the look not Joey - The Sun
The pretty blonde appeared outside her home without a scrap of slap on her.
Sam, 21, is famed for wearing lashings of make-up, fake tan, and huge lashes — but as she larked about with on-off boyfriend Joey Essex she couldn't have looked more different.
She also shed her glitzy party frocks and skyscraper heels for a casual T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and Converse trainers.
Sam and Joey, also 21, have recently rekindled their romance after splitting following a four-month relationship last year.
The couple were seen on Sunday night's episode of the hit ITV2 show going on a second attempt at a 'first date', where Joey whisked Sam off on a helicopter trip and arranged a romantic meal.
Joey's effort paid off as the couple ended the night with a kiss.
And things seem to have been going well for the lovebirds ever since.
They were spotted smooching on Sam's doorstep in the early hours of yesterday morning after a night out at The Sugar Hut in Brentwood.
And despite Sam axing the romance last year it seems she's enjoying the ride the second time round.
Yesterday she was seen attempting to get on the back of the club promoter's bike outside her Brentwood home with a little bit of help from sister Billie, 22, and a pal.
Billie, also dressed down in spotty jeans and a white cardigan, was then given a piggyback by Sam, who was forced to hold her boobs in to stop them spilling out of her T-shirt.
Source: www.thesun.co.uk
Essex isn't the only way for frightful bores - WA today
The toffish, old-money cast of Made in Chelsea — just a posh The Only Way is Essex?
Show of the week: Made in Chelsea, Monday, LifeStyle You, 9.30pm
BRITAIN'S upper crust certainly has a bottom of the barrel and it's on shameless display in this deplorable semi-scripted docusoap.
Made in Chelsea is essentially a toffy version of The Only Way is Essex. The cast is a similar assortment of vain, preening, narcissistic nitwits. The main difference, trivial as it is, is in the social milieu.
The Chelsea crowd have reasonably posh accents, while the Essex rabble sound like Jamie Oliver. The ostentatiously rich Essex kids are all unseemly new money, while the ostentatiously rich Chelsea kids have parents who at least had the good taste to make their dough in African diamonds and Caribbean hotels. Acceptable occupations for young women in Chelsea are PA and PR; in Essex they're bikini waxing and vajazzling.
One of the richest of the Chelsea crowd is 23-year-old entrepreneur and diamond heir Francis Boulle, who provides this episode's inspirational opening quote: ''Capitalism makes you beautiful''. That gauche little fetishisation of wealth sets the tone well enough, but Francis wants us to know that he's not entirely without a social conscience.
You see, he's looking into setting up an educational charity for underprivileged children. As he explains: ''I was nearly mugged by this child in Chelsea and the only thing that was outstanding about the whole ordeal was his terrible grammar.''
It's nice to see young Francis doing something productive with his privilege - until now he has been best known for setting up the website sexymp.co.uk, which greets visitors with two random pictures of members of the House of Commons and asks which one they would prefer to have sex with. No, I'm not making any of this up.
Equally feckless is bloodless bisexual Ollie, equal parts Fabio and Eeyore. ''My eyebrows are a f---ing disaster,'' he complains. ''I have to see my eyebrow woman.'' But Ollie's real anguish is existential. Last season he broke up with aspiring pop star Gabriella so he could explore his attraction to men, only to get into a new relationship with clothing-chain heiress Chloe.
This is causing friction between Ollie and his best gal-pals, Binky and Cheska, who are still friends with Gabriella and don't like the way Ollie has been treating her. Ollie's solution? A weekend fishing trip in the countryside. ''I have two passions in my life: my friends and my angling,'' he reveals. Regular viewers will be stunned that this top two includes neither Ollie's Conan the Librarian hair nor his own reflection.
And so it goes on. Biscuit empire heir Jamie is in trouble with his accountant for exceeding his allowance. Foreign exchange broker Spencer is mooning over aspiring pop star Caggie. Playboy PR man Hugo is mooning over the fact he's in a relationship and can no longer go chasing any woman in his path. None of them is remotely endearing. Except, perhaps, silly old Ollie.
But if you like your pretend-reality shows to be populated by people who make you want to vomit, Made in Chelsea might be the show for you.
Source: www.watoday.com.au
German discount grocery chain Aldi to open location in Waco - Waco Tribune-Herald
Aldi, a German-owned, no-frills grocery chain that claims to offer the lowest prices available, will open a 16,000-square-foot store at Wooded Acres and Valley Mills drives.
Waco real estate developer Gordon Harriman III has sold Aldi about 2 acres where crews are tearing down the former Waco Dodge complex. Harriman said the store likely will open in November.
Aldi dotes on austerity and slashing overhead to keep prices low. Shoppers are urged to bring their own shopping bags, though Aldi has them for sale.
Shoppers also pay a 25-cent deposit on shopping carts, which they get back when the cart is returned. This process eliminates the need to hire people to round up carts in the parking lot.
The chain primarily sells its own house brands, which it displays in cardboard boxes.
“The typical Aldi store will hire a handful of people: a manager and a few others. Probably fewer than one would find in a deli or bakery at H-E-B,” said Mark Humstra, who follows trends for Supermarket News.
Harriman said Aldi contacted him through real estate agent Mike Meadows about acquiring 2 acres on North Valley Mills Drive.
He said the chain’s operating approach is nothing like that of the local dominant chain, H-E-B, which has six locations in the Waco area and whose largest store locally covers 112,000 square feet in Bellmead.
H-E-B has leveled the former University Middle School at South Valley Mills Drive and Interstate 35 South, where it plans to build a regional store that would become the largest locally.
It also is weighing the merits of building a store at Lake Shore Drive and North 19th Street, where it bought a 25-acre tract near the River Bend shopping center.
H-E-B spokeswoman Tamra Jones said the chain would have no comment on Aldi’s arrival in Waco.
Grocery rankings
Humstra, with Supermarket News, said H-E-B ranks 13th on the list of the largest grocery chains in America, enjoying estimated sales of $18 billion last year. It has 335 stores, including several in Mexico.
Aldi ranks 25th on that same list, and its 1,215 U.S. stores generated an estimated $7.3 billion in sales.
“It is one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in the United States. Its stores are relatively small, but they have among the best sales-per-square-foot numbers in the industry,” Humstra said of Aldi. “They began to perform especially well during the recession, and they typically siphon away some business from existing stores.”
By offering only 1,400 items, compared with 60,000 at its larger supermarket rivals, Aldi focuses on buying power. That makes Aldi 30 to 50 percent cheaper than traditional supermarkets and 15 to 20 percent cheaper than big-box discounters like Walmart, according to statistics the company provided.
Charlie Rice-Minos, an Aldi spokesman, said the chain has 37 stores in Texas, most of which are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But it has announced plans to build 30 stores in the Houston area within three years.
It opened 75 stores in the United States in 2011 and plans to open more than 80 stores this year.
Rice-Minos said more than 20 million customers each month shop at Aldi locations nationally.
Privately held Aldi was founded in 1913 but expanded rapidly after World War II. Brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht — Aldi is an abbreviation for Albrecht Discount — launched the deep-discount concept in 1961.
Based in Essen, Germany, Aldi operates about 8,500 stores in Europe, the United States and Australia, with the U.S. its second-largest market behind Germany. It enjoys annual sales of more than $60 billion internationally.
The Waco store will open next to an 8,500-square-foot mixed-use development on which Harriman’s Crawford Austin Properties soon will begin construction. Harriman said he is negotiating with three national restaurants and two national retailers, all without a presence in Waco, who have an interest in his Lakewood Center.
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Source: www.wacotrib.com
Broomfield Hospital gets CQC warning over records - BBC News
A hospital trust in Essex has been given a formal warning by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) demanding it improves patient records.
Its team visited Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford in April and found "numerous gaps in food and fluid charts" on nine patient records on two wards.
The CQC said standards fell short of what people should be able to expect. It must improve by 3 June, it added.
Mid Essex Hospital NHS Trust said it had "tackled the issue".
Dr Ronan Fenton, the trust's chief medical officer, said: "The patients whose records were inspected by the Care Quality Commission did receive good quality care, but it was the record-keeping aspect that was in need of improvement.
"This is something we have taken very seriously and we have already tackled the issue."
'Serious consequences'The CQC said the gaps in patient charts meant it was unclear whether people were receiving adequate nutrition and hydration at all times.
It added that most patient discharge checklists were blank or poorly completed, meaning it was difficult to establish what plans had been made to support people when they had been discharged.
Assessments for the risk of falls and people's mobility needs were not always signed, dated or completed, the CQC said.
Inspectors were also concerned that some food charts were discontinued without a reason, which "posed a risk to patients".
Andrea Gordon, CQC deputy director of operations (central region), said: "The law says that these are the standards that everyone should be able to expect.
"Providers have a duty to ensure they are compliant. We will be returning to the trust to follow up on progress and, when we do, we will expect the trust to be able to demonstrate it has made improvements.
"Mid Essex Hospital NHS Trust needs to address these issues or face serious consequences."
Dr Fenton, of the trust, added: "We are confident that we can demonstrate to the CQC that we are strong on these assurance disciplines as well as the many standards of care quality that have been commended by the CQC."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Sussex fight back after nightmare start at Lord's - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex fight back after nightmare start at Lord's
6:59pm Wednesday 30th May 2012 in Sport By Steve Hollis
Sussex fought back after making a nightmare start to their County Championship match with Middlesex at Lord's.
Skipper Mike Yardy saw his side collapse to 33-4 and 66-5 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
But battling innings from Ed Joyce and Ben Brown saw Sussex recover to 242-8 at the close of day one in the division one encounter.
The day got off to the worst possible start for Sussex on what looked a decent batting wicket and favourable conditions.
Opener Chris Nash fell off the second ball when he edged a lifting delivery from Murtagh to the wicketkeeper.
Murtagh then struck twice in the space of four balls to dismiss Joe Gatting and Mike Goodwin, both caught in the slips, and when Yardy followed Sussex were reeling on 33-4.
Luke Wright and Joyce put a temporary halt to the carnage with a partnership of 33 before Wright played a loose shot to a delivery from Stephen Finn and was caught behind.
Joyce survived when Ollie Rayner was unable to hold on to a sharp chance at second slip to complete his half century.
He put on 81 with Brown before gloving a catch down the leg-side to the wicketkeeper having made 77 to give Finn his second wicket.
Brown and Naved Arif then added 63 for the seventh wicket before Finn ended Brown's inning with the new ball.
The players had just returned after a short rain delay and Brown's concentration seemed to be affected as he took a swipe at a wide ball and edged to Rayner at second slip for 70.
Arif followed for 38 when he tried to cut a ball from Murtagh (4-41) which was too close to him and picked out Gareth Berg at backward point.
Jimmy Anyon and Steve Magoffin were both on 11 when play was brought to a close after 92 overs.
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
Brown and Joyce lead Sussex recovery - ECB
Ben Brown and Ed Joyce led a spirited fightback after Middlesex had threatened to bowl Sussex out cheaply at Lord's in LV= County Championship Division One.
Tim Murtagh took three early wickets with the new ball after Sussex skipper Michael Yardy had won the toss and elected to bat, finishing with figures of 4-41.
Steven Finn also picked up two wickets as Sussex slumped to 66 for five before Joyce and Brown began the recovery. Finn, by the close, had 3-65.
Joyce made 77 in a partnership of 81 with Brown, who went on to add 63 with Naveed Arif Gondal before falling for 70 as Sussex reached 242 for eight by the end of play. Gondal made 38.
Murtagh put Sussex on the back foot, producing an impressive opening spell.
Tim Murtagh claims 4-41 as Middlesex reduce Sussex to 242 for eight on day one of their LV= County Championship clash at Lord's
Chris Nash went for a duck off the second ball of the match when he edged a delivery that bounced and left him to wicketkeeper John Simpson.
Murtagh then removed Joe Gatting and Murray Goodwin in the space of four balls to leave Sussex rocking at 16 for three.
Gatting got an inside edge on to his pad with the ball carrying to Ollie Rayner at second slip while Goodwin's poor run continued as he nicked his fourth ball to Dawid Malan at second slip for a duck.
Yardy then chased a wide one from Gareth Berg and was caught by Finn for eight, meaning four of Sussex's top five had failed to get into double figures.
The in-form Luke Wright struck three quick boundaries before paying for a lack of footwork as he was caught behind off Finn for 14.
Joyce had one reprieve when former Sussex team-mate Rayner was unable to hold on to a sharp chance at second slip when on 33.
The Ireland international piled on the runs with Brown before gloving a catch down the leg side to Simpson off Finn. His innings lasted 174 balls and included 10 fours.
Brown continued to frustrate the home bowlers with Gondal, bringing up his first half-century of the season off 127 balls with five fours.
Middlesex ended the day well as the arrival of the new ball saw Finn remove Brown and Gondal fall to Murtagh after a short break for rain.
Source: www.ecb.co.uk
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