Kent Exiles 12-50 Sussex Thunder
11:08am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in Sport
KENT Exiles were beaten by Sussex Thunder on Sunday in their final home game of the season.
Going into the game as underdogs, and with a depleted squad due to five games in as many weeks having taken its toll with injuries, the Exiles dug in early on and matched Thunder stride for stride.
After an early Thunder score the Exiles thought they had drawn level when Zac Ritchie threw to Sam Johnson and the wideout broke a tackle and outpaced the visiting defence, but a penalty wiped the score off the board.
Ritchie found Colin Chislett and then Johnson again to move them within touching distance of the endzone and Jon Miller caught the touchdown.
Sussex Thunder pulled ahead on their next drive, but the Exiles came straight back once again.
Ben Abbott continued his good form finding some running room and Ritchie found the reliable Chislett and Miller before Wesley Eversley jumped between three defenders to pull in the touchdown and bring the scores level again.
One more Thunder score as the half ran out gave the visitors the lead, but at half-time it was anyone's game.
However, the second half was a different story as Sussex Thunder’s defence started to get on top and force turnovers which resulted in some quick scoring without reply from the Exiles and before long the game was out of reach.
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Source: www.newsshopper.co.uk
Wham bam thank you Ma'am: Jubilee boosts supermarket sales by 11.3% - Daily Mirror
The Queen’s four-day Diamond Jubilee celebrations boosted supermarket tills by an extra £213million as royal fever swept the nation.
Sales soared by 11.3% in the run-up to the party for Her Majesty, with stores expected to do even better when the Olympics start next month.
Figures from analysts Kantar Worldpanel show overall sales were up 3.2% in the 12 weeks to June 10.
Despite the much-needed tonic, Tesco and Morrisons lost out to their rivals Asda and Sainsbury’s as the two chains continued to poach shoppers thanks to their price-matching schemes.
And budget chains Aldi and Lidl also cashed in, with record market shares of 2.8% each, while Waitrose hit an all-time high of 4.6%.
Frozen food chain Iceland also proved a winner, with sales up by 6.3% – double the market average.
Source: www.mirror.co.uk
Watford set to become feeder club to Udinese... with Zola in line to replace Dyche - Daily Mail
By Sami Mokbel
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Watford could become a feeder club to Serie A side Udinese if the wealthy Pozzo family complete their proposed Vicarage Road takeover.
The Championship club released a statement on Tuesday confirming the Italian's had secured a deal 'in principle' to acquire the Hornets from current owner Laurence Bassini.
Takeover: Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo is set to take charge at Championship club Watford
However Gino Pozzo - son of Giampaolo, who owns Udinese and Spanish side Granada - later insisted a deal had not been finalised.
Taking over: Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo
He said: 'The Pozzo family wishes to clarify that any current news or rumour relative to the acquisition of Watford Football Club should be considered premature.
'While there is a concrete interest, the negotiation has not yet reached the point of being officially signed off with the signatures of the parties on the contracts.'
Nevertheless, a deal is still expected to be completed in the coming days - and it is understood the Italian family would look to send some of Udinese's brightest young talent on loan to Watford to increase their first-team experience.
Reports in Italy have also indicated that the Pozzo's will also look to replace current manager Sean Dyche with Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola.
Project: Zola could be involved at Watford following the club's takeover
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Watford to kick off the season on a Saturday (From This Is Local London) - This is london Calling
Watford to face Wycombe Wanderers in the Capital One Cup on Saturday, August 11
12:00pm Tuesday 19th June 2012 in Latest Sport
Watford will kick off their season on Saturday, August 11 after the date of their Capital One Cup tie with Wycombe Wanderers was confirmed.
When the draw was made last week, the date was unconfirmed as the Football League had told clubs they could play their matches on the Saturday before the league campaigns begin, rather than in midweek.
However, the Hornets needed to speak to the Police to ensure they would be able to host the fixture on Saturday due to the high numbers of officers needed at the London Olympics.
This morning the clubs announced the game at Vicarage Road will kick off at 3pm on Saturday, August 11.
Tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning and cost £11 for adults, £5 for concessions and £1 for adults.
Seating will be unreserved for the fixture and the Lower Rous and Hornets section of the Vicarage Road stand will be closed.
Source: www.thisislocallondon.co.uk
Join the queue! Shoppers have to wait nearly FOUR minutes to be served at Morrisons (but you can save a whole minute if you go to Waitrose) - Daily Mail
- Customers queue for an average of three minutes and 52 seconds at Morrisons
By Emily Allen
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It has long been seen as a destination for the more discerning shopper.
But it seems it isn't just the quality of the groceries that draws customers to Waitrose – it's how quickly they can buy them.
The supermarket has come top in a league table of how long shoppers spend queuing at the checkout.
Queue: Customers are irritated having to wait to pay for their groceries
On average it took a minute less to get to the till at Waitrose than at Morrisons, which came bottom of the list.
The supermarket, which is part of the John Lewis partnership, had an average queuing time of two minutes and 51 seconds, just ahead of Asda, where shoppers can expect to wait six seconds longer, at two minutes and 57 seconds.
Tesco came third, with its queues lasting for three minutes and five seconds on average. Customers at Sainsbury's have to wait significantly longer, with a waiting time of three minutes and 47 seconds.
In last place was Morrisons, which had an average queuing time of three minutes and 52 seconds, according to figures compiled over the past year by trade publication The Grocer.
The magazine carries out a weekly mystery shopping survey to track prices, service and availability at the five leading grocery retailers.
Waitrose has been attempting to widen its appeal away from its upmarket image, with boss Mark Price saying he didn't want people to call the chain 'posh'.
Last month it pledged to match the cost of 7,000 products at Tesco, and it has also launched a cheaper Essentials range.
Speedy: Waitrose has the fastest queuing time of two minutes and 51 seconds
In May it emerged that Asda is trialing a new type of 'hybrid' checkout which could be the answer for time-strapped shoppers.
AVERAGE QUEUING TIME
1. Waitrose 2 mins 51 seconds
2. Asda 2 mins 57 seconds
3. Tesco 3 mins 5 seconds
4. Sainsbury’s 3 mins 47 seconds
5. Morrisons 3 mins 52 seconds
The special till can switch from a check-out operated by a member of staff to a self-scan till in just a moment.
The chain thinks it could put an end to clock-watching customers reaching a till to find the 'This till is closed' sign displayed.
Four hybrid checkouts have been trialled in Asda’s superstore in Keighley in West Yorkshire.
A spokeswoman for Asda said the trial had gone 'very well' and that it would be rolling out the tills at another four superstores later this summer.
The biggest advantage of the hyrbids, which can be used by customers with trolleys as well as those with baskets, is that it will enable the store to have checkouts that are always open.
Self-scan tills first appeared in the UK in 2002 and were trialled by Asda and other supermarkets in 2003.
But they quickly became notorious for frustrated shoppers by announcing the presence of 'unexpected items in the bagging area'.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Tricycle theatre's new director aims for more diverse audience - The Guardian
The Tricycle theatre on Kilburn High Road, in north-west London, is opposite Planet Pizza and Lanny's Barbar (sic) Shop. The entrance is discreet and the auditorium only seats 240, but since its foundation 32 years ago this small theatre has packed a hefty theatrical punch, pioneering tribunal plays, constructed from verbatim accounts of public inquiries, such as Half the Picture, based on the Scott inquiry into arms sales to Iraq by British companies, and The Colour of Justice, based on the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
For 28 of those years it was ruled by Nicolas Kent, but last year he announced he was stepping down as artistic director because of a £350,000 cut in the theatre's grant – a third of its subsidy. Kent is a hard act to follow, especially in straitened financial times, but Indhu Rubasingham, who formally took over from Kent a month ago and this week announces her first season, is as yet showing no signs of strain.
"I'm an optimist," she says. "The opportunity here is fantastic. You can change ways of thinking. Having been resistant to taking on a building, I've realised the potential is huge. As a freelance director I used to be a commitment-phobe – it was like having a string of affairs. But now I feel I've finally got married."
She recognises the financial pressures will be considerable, but the Arts Council has at least agreed to cushion the impact of the cuts in her first year.
Rubasingham, 42, wants to attract a younger and more diverse audience to the Tricycle, and her first season – four shows running from October – has a crowd-pleasing feel. Her debut show, which she will direct, is the world premiere of Red Velvet, a play by Lolita Chakrabarti about Ira Aldridge, Britain's first black classical actor. Rubasingham's trump card is that Chakrabarti's husband, Adrian Lester, will star as Aldridge.
Red Velvet is followed by a Christmas show – a first for the Tricycle – based on the Arabian Nights; a comedy called One Monkey Don't Stop No Show about a middle-class black family in Philadelphia, which Rubasingham describes it as "The Cosby Show meets restoration comedy"; and Paper Dolls, another play with music (a term she prefers to musicals) about Filipino care workers in Tel Aviv who in their spare time form a cross-dressing cabaret group. "It's about immigration, Israel, religion, sexuality – and it's got music!" she says, making it sound like a Jewish-Filipino Full Monty.
The trick will be to attract new audiences that better reflect the local community, the most diverse in London, without losing the old predominantly white, professional one. She reckons that if she can engage the myriad cultures that swirl around the Kilburn High Road, then by definition the work she is putting on has more than local significance. "I'm interested in looking at the world through different lenses," she says, "and if I'm speaking locally, I'm speaking internationally."
How hard is it to follow someone who did the job for so long? "It's very daunting," she admits. "Tricycle and Nic Kent are symbiotic, and there aren't many theatres like that." Some have suggested that he will still try to pull the strings from afar, but Rubasingham is sure he will let go. She has no plans to carry on the tradition of tribunal plays – the starry daily drama of Leveson suggests they would in any case find it hard to compete with the real thing.
Rubasingham was born in Sheffield to parents who had migrated from Sri Lanka – her father was a doctor and she was heading in the same direction until a stint doing work experience at Nottingham Playhouse as a 16-year-old – but she doesn't want to be characterised as one of that rare breed, "Asian women in the theatre". "I'm wary of reductiveness," she says. "I've done Asian plays, black plays, white plays. My passion is new writing." Some have suggested the fact she is female and of Asian origin made her the perfect candidate for the Tricycle. Does that rankle? "People can say what they want," she says. "It was my artistic vision that got me the job."
She is the latest in a string of women to secure prominent artistic directorships, following Vicky Featherstone at the Royal Court and Josie Rourke at the Donmar. Why this sudden trend? "I don't think there's any conscious decision to appoint lots of women artistic directors," she says. "I just think there's a lot of talent out there." Will they bring a different perspective? "It's really hard to answer that," she says, betraying a hint of exasperation. "It would be like me asking you what do white male journalists bring? To try to say the three of us have something in common because of our gender is ridiculous."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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