Fundraiser for funeral of boy killed by bus in Margate reaches £5,000
On the appeal page, she said: "I am so lost, he was my son my most beautiful little Jan."I don't know what to do I can't believe you are gone from me. I didn't even get to tell you how much I love you."The smile that we can't see again. Can't hold him. Can't cuddle him. Can't hear him. Can't have him sleeping in my bed tonight."But I can try to give him the best and most comfortable burial."
On Friday blankets, flowers, sweets and letters were laid at a memorial area close to the hospital.Kent Police is appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them.
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Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Gen Z students taught to make phone calls in preparation for university clearing
Schools are teaching Gen Z how to make phone calls because they are anxious about speaking to university admissions teams. Ucas, the higher education admissions service, said schools are now holding workshops on basic phone skills so they can navigate clearing ahead of this year's A level results day. The organisation hopes to eventually digitise the process of obtaining a university place through clearing but pupils currently have to ring admissions teams and negotiate if they miss their offer. Research suggests Gen Z prefers to text or send a voice note than have a conversation via phone, and a survey last year found nearly a quarter of 18 to 34-year-olds never pick up calls. Dr Jo Saxton, the chief executive of Ucas, told The Times that some pupils needed to be told how to say hello and reminded that they needed their Ucas identifying number. She also said pupils had to be taught about the concept of being put on hold. She added: 'Because they don't usually make phone calls, they're not used to the same sort of etiquette and protocols of greeting and signing off, and making sure they've got the right research and information in front of them. 'Quite often students who ring Ucas have to phone us back because they didn't realise they needed their identifying number. It's helping them get their ducks in a row.' Clearing is expected to be more competitive than usual this year after universities made a record number of offers amid a worsening financial crisis across higher education. The scheme is available to students who do not meet the conditions of their offer on A-level results day, and matches applicants to university places that are yet to be filled. Clearing hotlines at most universities will open from 7am on results day on Thursday for disappointed pupils hoping to find a place on a degree. Ucas plans to modernise the clearing process and instead give pupils automatic offers that they can either accept or decline, but any new system will take several years to draw up. She told a separate webinar on Tuesday that clearing is no longer perceived as a 'bargain basement' for those who are not successful on A-level results day, since higher ranking universities are now using the scheme. Analysis found 17 of the 24 elite Russell Group universities had more than 3,600 courses with vacancies available through clearing this week. Universities are scrambling to fill seats with domestic students this year as they face financial pressures following a dramatic drop in foreign students. It will benefit students who open their A-levels on Thursday to learn they missed one or two grades, as they are expected to have a better chance of finding a place at a top university than in previous years. Speaking at an event hosted by the Higher Education Policy Institute on Tuesday, Dr Saxton said: 'Clearing maybe was perceived as a bargain basement – it was for the people who had been unsuccessful. But that is definitely not how current applicants perceive it. 'It is about students trusting their instincts and going back to their curated playlists, the favourites that they researched, that they've probably visited. They're not blindfolded throwing a dart at a dartboard.' It comes amid a broader debate over the value of going to university, with tuition fees set to rise for the first time in eight years from next month to £9,535 per year in England and Wales. Writing for The Telegraph, Dr Saxton and Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, said it was 'important not to let scepticism obscure the bigger picture about what the UK's world-leading higher education continues to offer'.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Future unclear for Coventry splash park shut by mechanical fault
A sign on the railings at a popular water play area has claimed it will be permanently closed but its future in fact remains and Play in Coventry's War Memorial Park closed more than a year ago due to a fault in the pump City Council previously said the feature, which was installed in 2004, would reopen in time for the school summer the wording of the sign, the authority said the attraction was only closed for the "foreseeable" and it was exploring options for it future, reiterating no decision had yet been taken. A spokesperson added: "In the meantime, there is still lots of fun for families to enjoy at our wonderful park."A woman at the park, who has two children axed six and nine, told BBC CWR the feature hadn't been open properly in the past so its closure hadn't made "much difference"."They were opening it the odd half an hour here and there... and it was never really publicised when it would be open and when it wouldn't be," she woman added: "It's just a shame for the children really isn't it, especially on a nice warm day like today." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
‘The Japanese dropped a bomb right behind me – this is how I survived'
A 105-year-old navy veteran has told the Duchess of Edinburgh how he survived the Japanese bombing of HMS Repulse after a bomb dropped on the deck directly behind him. Jim Wren sat down for a cup of tea and cake with the Duchess at his care home in Salisbury, where he recalled extraordinary stories of survival ahead of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday. Both HMS Prince of Wales, then Britain's newest and most powerful battleship, and her consort, the battlecruiser Repulse, were sunk off the east coast of Malaysia by Japanese naval planes on December 10 1941, three days after the attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. It was the Royal Navy's greatest single defeat of the Second World War. Mr Wren, who was later captured and held as a prisoner of war for more than three years, has joined calls for the anchor of the Prince of Wales to be returned to the UK and installed at the memorial to those who died at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, unveiled in 2011. Mr Wren told the Duchess of the moment they came under attack: 'It was around 11 o'clock in the morning. I was having a cup of tea on the mess deck and the alarm was raised. 'I dropped my cup and as I left the mess deck, the first bomb dropped right behind me. 'Fortunately, it didn't explode – I was able to go down two or three decks before it exploded. That saved my life.' He added: 'From then onwards it was a case of actions, actions, and it was torpedo after torpedo and they eventually got nine hits.' Mr Wren sat with the other young reserve gun crew for more than an hour listening to the roar of battle before emerging into chaos. He has previously told The Telegraph how he then stripped off his heavier clothing, climbed over the side, crawled over the bilges and into the water. 'There was no time to freeze with fear,' he said. 'It was do or die.' The two ships shot down just three of 85 Japanese aircraft before succumbing. Of the 1,612 aboard the Prince of Wales, 327 died, while on Repulse, 513 from a complement of 1,309 perished. Asked by the Duchess, who is patron of the Java Far East Prisoner of War Club 1942, if his family knew he had survived, Mr Wren said: 'It was right until the end of the war until they knew I was alive. So they suffered all this time.' The veteran described how he was later captured by Japanese soldiers alongside a group of civilians as they attempted to flee Singapore by boat. 'It must have been awful, because you were surrounded by women and children,' the Duchess said. Mr Wren nodded. 'We didn't know [where] our next meal was coming from, or [where] our next drink was coming from...' he explained. 'They had no idea how to deal with prisoners of war, the Japanese – no idea.' Mr Wren was kept as a prisoner in Sumatra before being released in August 1945, after Japan surrendered. There was laughter when the Duchess asked him what had attracted him to the Navy. 'Nothing attracted me to the Navy – I didn't want to be in the Navy,' he admitted. Mr Wren applied to join the RAF and the Army when he was 19, but was turned down. He then joined the Navy after his uncle, a retired Royal Marine, was recalled up on reserve. The wrecks of both the Prince of Wales and Repulse have been designated as official war graves but that has not stopped them from being preyed upon by salvage merchants. Campaigners and relations of those who died aboard HMS Repulse have long called for parts of the warship to be recovered to serve as a memorial before scrap metal scavengers further desecrate the last resting place of her crew. The bronze propellers disappeared between September 2012 and May 2013, followed by components made of other ferrous metals and blocks of steel and aluminium. Campaign for return of artefects to UK In April 2023, the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (Mast) tracked a Chinese purpose-built salvage barge that had looted the Prince of Wales wreckage to a breakers' yard on the south coast of Malaysia. There, two of the ship's anchors, alongside other artefacts, are still being held. One of the anchors remains in good condition and the organisation is campaigning for it to be returned to the UK where it can be conserved and then installed at the national memorial. But Jessica Berry, founder and chief executive of Mast, said the Malaysians were keen to keep it for themselves, having built a new structure 'where they think it will look very nice.' She added: 'Our aim is the anchor to be conserved and installed at the National Memorial Arboretum as a fitting memorial to those who died, as per Jim Wren's wishes.' Mr Wren said: 'We would like the anchor to go to the memorial at the National Arboretum.' The war veteran became emotional as he spoke about the 80th anniversary of VJ Day commemorations. 'When we got back, the government didn't want to know and told us not to talk about it,' he said. On Friday, the King will deliver an audio address to the nation to mark the historic anniversary VJ Day before joining the Queen at a Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum.
