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Novello Picture House: Theatre saved with charity purchase

Novello Picture House: Theatre saved with charity purchase

BBC News02-06-2025
Campaigners working to save a run-down theatre from demolition are celebrating success after its sale to a charitable trust.Novello Theatre in Sunninghill, Berkshire, has been bought by the Sunninghill Trust, which will also fund the building's refurbishment.The 100-year-old former cinema will be linked to neighbouring Cordes Hall, with Cordes Hall Charity running both venues "as one vibrant arts hub".Campaign coordinator Alan Everett described the development as "a fantastic outcome for local performers and residents".
The historical building was owned by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead which, last year, gave campaign group Save Novello Picture House the opportunity to buy it before it was offered on the open market.The purchase, which completed on Friday, will see the Sunninghill Trust "bring the building up to modern standards" and make it "available to the local community through an affordable lease" to the Cordes Hall Charity.Funds raised by the campaign group will pay for the internal theatre fittings.Mr Everett said: "We are deeply grateful to the Sunninghill Trust for their generous support. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with the trust during the initial refurbishment phase and ultimately bringing this much-loved historical building back to life."
The Sunninghill Trust was established in 1813 and provides allotments and grants to relieve hardship and help the community.A trust spokesperson said: "We are delighted to announce our significant support for this project by bringing an underutilised asset back into community use. "The theatre sits right in the heart of our support area."We look forward to working closely with the Cordes Hall Charity on this project."
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Perrie Edwards channels her inner cowgirl as she belts out her new country song in Newcastle - after speaking out on toxic relationships and heartbreaking baby loss
Perrie Edwards channels her inner cowgirl as she belts out her new country song in Newcastle - after speaking out on toxic relationships and heartbreaking baby loss

Daily Mail​

time5 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Perrie Edwards channels her inner cowgirl as she belts out her new country song in Newcastle - after speaking out on toxic relationships and heartbreaking baby loss

Perrie Edwards has returned to the stage with a performance of her new country track, after detailing her struggles with toxic relationships and baby loss in her most candid interview yet. The Little Mix star, 32, has been promoting her new song If He Wanted To, He Would, and took to the stage at the Come Together Festival in Newcastle to belt out her new song on Wednesday. Channelling her inner cowgirl, Perrie slipped into a black catsuit with white fringing as she performed the song, which is set to be released on Friday. Earlier this week, the star sat down for a hard-hitting interview on Paul C Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, where she revealed for the first time she'd suffered two heartbreaking baby losses. Perrie shared that she first miscarried early into her first pregnancy, and discovered the devastating loss when she started bleeding and headed to the doctors. She then went on to reveal that a year after giving birth to her 'rainbow baby' Axel, who is now three, she discovered she was pregnant again, but tragically lost her baby at 24 weeks. Speaking about her son, Perrie said: 'Axel's a rainbow baby. 'So I had a miscarriage very early on with my first ever pregnancy, and it was so early. I remember finding out I was pregnant. 'Obviously, I started bleeding not long after, and I went to the hospital and I had the scan and they were like, 'There's no baby.'' 'And I was like, 'oh, I've made this up. Maybe I got a false positive or something.' And I remember being on my own at the appointments because nobody was there.' Perrie added that due to her miscarriage, she was 'on edge' while she expecting her son Axel, admitting she 'just wanted to get past' the 12-week scan. 'And then when I had Axel, when I was pregnant with him, like, I loved being pregnant, it was one of the happiest times of my life. Like, I just love carrying babies,' she said. 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Solving the asylum question is suddenly even more urgent
Solving the asylum question is suddenly even more urgent

The Independent

time6 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Solving the asylum question is suddenly even more urgent

What next? As ministers digest the High Court ruling on the use of a hotel in Epping to house asylum seekers, they have very limited options in front of them, none of them good ones. The High Court should not be attacked for making a ruling that takes no account of politics or even practicalities, for that is not its job. It has, though, made a bad situation very much worse. It is hardly helpful to anyone, in such circumstances, for Nigel Farage to exploit a delicate and sometimes combustible situation by calling for more peaceful protests. From bitter experience, we know how such demonstrations can degenerate into minor disorder, or worse. In fact, given the force of the High Court judgment, there is even less need for such protests now. Instead, Mr Farage and his deputy, Richard Tice, as usual, are playing on the fears of people and behaving in a way that is irresponsible at best and dangerous at worst. Mr Farage's interventions in the riots last year only added to the campaign of disinformation underway, and most recently was made to apologise for claiming that the Essex police had 'bussed in' counter-demonstrators in Epping. The Conservatives, mesmerised by the rise of Reform UK, are in a constant losing battle to out-Farage Farage, and they should know better than to propagate myths about asylum seekers living in 'offensively luxurious' conditions, which was today's unhelpful sideswipe from former Tory MP Damian Green. The shadow home secretary Chris Philp and the shadow communities secretary James Cleverly should bear their share of the blame for the mess the asylum system is in, and offer some constructive alternatives and call for calm. They will not recover as a serious alternative party of government until they too come up with a plan for the asylum system. The leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, often talks of such a thing, but it is yet to be seen. Meanwhile, her undeclared rival, Robert Jenrick, appears to be constantly dialling up tensions. The position is serious. Were the Bell Hotel the only place to be affected by the ruling, then it would not be such a challenge to relocate its 140 residents by the date set by the court of 12 September. However, the judgment also sets a clear precedent, albeit largely based in planning law, for the end of the use of hotels to provide emergency housing. It does so with near-immediate effect. That means some 32,000 individuals will need to be rehoused, at absurdly short notice. Already, local authorities controlled by Reform UK and the Conservatives are expected to bring their own cases, which, as the Home Office lawyers warned the High Court, will make the dilemma of finding shelter for them even more acute. In practice, too, it will encourage many more local protests and increase the pressure on police forces to maintain order. One other immediate effect will be to increase the pressure in areas where Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green councils may still try to stick to a 'refugees welcome' policy. This only creates a sense of unfairness that the task of finding shelter for the immigrants is not being properly shared across the country. And, in any case, all, including the refugees and other migrants affected, agree that using hotels is a far from ideal solution in any case. Contrary to some of the anti-refugee propaganda, these hotels, whatever their nominal star ratings, are unsuitable for long-term residence, and are not the lap of luxury. Concierge is not available. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work, they are given shelter and a minimal allowance to stave off destitution, some medical attention and, courtesy of some councils, access to some recreational activities. They are not cosseted in the way some seem to imagine. 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It may be that some form of emergency legislation will be required to delay the implementation of such High Court orders, although that in itself may not be constitutional. The only course then open to government is to redouble its efforts to process the backlog bequeathed to them by the previous administration, speeding up the grant of leave to remain for genuine refugees, or issuing deportation orders in expedited fashion for rejected claimants. It will take too long to build vast detention centres, while the old army barracks that have been commandeered in the past have been found to be completely unsuitable. The High Court has listened to the representatives of the people of Epping Forest and made its decision, and it is right that the judges should do so. Citizens have a right to have their cases heard impartially and have their grievances aired. The courts will no doubt soon be issuing many similar orders. Yet there are other people with a stake in these cases. Perhaps the most lamentable aspect of this latest episode in the migration crisis is that the voices of the immigrants themselves have been so rarely heard, and their plight disregarded. They have their human rights, too, enforceable by law – though many would cheerfully seek to deny them that. Indeed, the tendency in the media has been to demonise these fellow human beings as malevolent monsters determined to wreak crime and havoc in whatever neighbourhood they find themselves bussed to. Whether refugee or economic migrant, they are entitled to be treated properly in a civilised society, and not portrayed, as cynical politicians pretend, as an 'invasion' of 'fighting-age' men. They are not an alien army, but individuals who want a better life. Many would have preferred to stay put, were it not for war, persecution, famine and poverty. In a land such as Britain, with severe labour shortages, they have much to contribute, as have previous waves of immigrants. They could help to fix the 'Broken Britain' we hear so much about, and do the jobs that need doing. Yet they are all too often regarded as terrorists, rapists and murderers. The police at the hotel demos fare hardly any better, berated as 'paedo-defenders' and verbally and physically abused for doing their duty and preserving the King's Peace. The wider challenge for ministers now is to persuade the public that they are doing all they can to restore order to the asylum system – and to rebuild confidence in it. That task just got a lot more urgent.

BBC ‘not institutionally antisemitic', editor says after row over Gaza coverage
BBC ‘not institutionally antisemitic', editor says after row over Gaza coverage

The Independent

time6 minutes ago

  • The Independent

BBC ‘not institutionally antisemitic', editor says after row over Gaza coverage

The BBC is 'not institutionally antisemitic', a newspaper editor has said following a row over the broadcaster's coverage of the conflict in Gaza. James Harding, The Observer 's editor-in-chief said the perception of a 'political presence looming over the BBC' is a problem and the broadcaster needs to be 'beyond the reach of politicians'. The BBC has been criticised for a number of incidents in recent months which include breaching its own accuracy editorial guidelines and livestreaming the Bob Vylan Glastonbury set, where there were chants of 'Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)'. Following the incident, UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said ministers expect 'accountability at the highest levels' for the BBC's decision to screen the performance. Mr Harding discussed the difficulties of covering the Gaza conflict when he delivered this year's James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday. He described how 'newsrooms are in a furious argument with ourselves over the coverage of Israel and Gaza', with the situation 'very hard to view dispassionately'. The Observer chief said this is true for all media organisations, particularly the BBC, and it is 'about as difficult as it gets in news'. Mr Harding said: 'This summer, Lisa Nandy has weighed in.' He said the Culture Secretary's office insists she did not explicitly ask Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, to 'deliver up' director-general Tim Davie 's resignation following the Bob Vylan incident, but 'people inside the BBC were left in no doubt that was the message'. Mr Harding said: 'The place became paranoid about how the BBC itself would cover the story; people around him thought the political pressure would be too much. 'Whatever your view of the hate speech vs freedom of speech issues, an overbearing government minister doesn't help anyone. 'The hiring and firing of the editor-in-chief of the country's leading newsroom and cultural organisation should not be the job of a politician. It's chilling. 'Political interference – and the perception of a political presence looming over the BBC – is a problem, one that we've got too accustomed to. 'It looks likely to get worse. We need to get on with putting the country's most important editorial and creative organisation beyond the reach of politicians now.' The broadcaster is also facing an Ofcom investigation into its documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone after a review found it had breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy. The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Mr Harding said the BBC is not antisemitic. 'I am Jewish, proudly so,' he said. 'I'm proud, too, to have worked for the most important news organisation in the world. 'The BBC is not institutionally antisemitic. It's untrue to say it is. 'It's also unhelpful – much better to correct the mistakes and address the judgment calls that have been wrong, than smear the institution, impugn the character of all the people who work there and, potentially, undermine journalists in the field working in the most difficult and dangerous of conditions.' The UK Government and the BBC have been asked for comment. Mr Harding is co-founder of Tortoise Media, which acquired broadsheet newspaper The Observer in April. Before he co-founded Tortoise Media, Mr Harding was editor of The Times from 2007 to 2012 and was in charge of the BBC's news and current affairs programming from 2013 up until the beginning of 2018. He also co-presented On Background on the BBC World Service and wrote the book Alpha Dogs: How Political Spin Became A Global Business. A spokesperson for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: 'The Culture Secretary has been repeatedly clear that the role of the director-general is a matter for the BBC board. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue. 'The BBC has itself acknowledged a number of serious failings in recent months, including the broadcasting of the Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury. 'It is entirely right that the Culture Secretary raised these issues with the BBC leadership on behalf of licence fee payers.'

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