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The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Country diary 1950: The first classic sheepdog trial of the season
CUMBERLAND: It was the first of the classic trials of the season. Shafts of sunlight fell across rock, scree, timber, and fern over which companies of hounds were driving the scent of aniseed and paraffin. The light colours among the scores of strivers scudding the trods were like gulls hunting the bracken clock fly. Always ahead and alone was one so dark as to justify his name of Black Diamond. He was racing to register his 130th triumph. For all his elderliness – he is a five-year-old – he was showing his fellows how knowledge added to resolution, speed, and stamina can prevail. Could he finish successfully a task he had begun well? The crowning test was the traverse of two meadows of 500 yards with two stone walls to climb. The hay grass was high. Only head and tail of hound could be seen as his lobbing body waved apart the seeding crop. A challenger was near enough to quicken ambition and to make a further call on heart and lung, but the dark hound did not falter in his stride. Catlike he climbed the walls, topped them, achieved a quick take-off, and flashed to the tape. He was the greatest of all the conquerors of the day.


BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
Wymondham Archery Club started after 2012 Games is UK biggest
A town archery club that started amid the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games has grown to become the largest in the Archers club in Norfolk began in 2013 and already has more than 350 members, with the youngest archer seven years old and the oldest coming in at 91. Peter Hill, chair of the club, said that, despite the Robin Hood cliches, the club was a "community asset"."What it does mean for us is we are making archery more acceptable and appreciated by people across the community," he said. "We are massive by comparison to where we were in 2018/19... quite unbelievably we are the largest UK Archery GB club." Governing body Archery GB said that out of the 779 GB archery clubs nationwide, 18 were based in Norfolk. It said there were many benefits of the sport, including mental and physical health, tackling isolation - and teaching focus and resilience. It was one of the original Paralympic sports and could be adapted for any ability, Archery GB said. Mr Hill said that with such a diverse age range, members played alongside each other creating friendships and building camaraderie. "It really is more than just an archery club because of the breadth of age and because of the breadth of ability you end up in a very familiar environment," he said."It's a really good sport because we don't have to pass the ball, it's just solitary yet we stand side by side." Mr Hill hailed the sport's accessibility with members who have physical and hidden disabilities. In the future, he hoped the club and its facilities would continue to grow, with aspirations of an indoor archery range that would be unique to East Anglia. He described how one of the club's members said the club provided "caviar archery for fishfingers prices" which, he added, said "a lot about the quality we provide and the affordability". Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Padel players fear lack of West Midlands courts slowing growth
People playing padel in the West Midlands say they need more courts to be built or the growth of the sport will slow blend of tennis and squash has been growing in popularity in recent years and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) estimates there are currently about 800 courts and more than 400,000 players in indoor courts have been opened in Tipton with bosses at Sandwell Leisure Trust saying they want to make the sport less expensive in the Razah uses them but wants to see more as he believes the lack of them "is impacting the growth of the sport". "If there were more courts available, then more people would be out playing," he added, having said he saw them "everywhere" when working in the Middle East. The centre is one of the first in the country to offer padel facilities funded by a local council and chief executive Mark Braithwaite said it was key to make them available to people in the area."I didn't feel like there was anything accessible around here," he said."The closest venue was Edgbaston private members' club and you need to be a member to access that, so a lot of people just couldn't."The new courts have encouraged a range of residents across the Black Country to pick up a padel, including Kiranjit Janagal, from 36-year-old has been playing weekly with her social fitness group Keeping People Well (KPW), which has seen an uptake in members since using the facilities."People can move around and connect," Ms Janagal said. "With this being 15 minutes away from my house, it's perfect for me."Mr Razah has been helping people improve their skills and shots during some KPW sessions at the centre."You can put someone on a court who hasn't played before and because of the rules and the set-up of it, they can pick it up quite easily," the 26-year-old explained. But when organising padel events at different locations, Ms Janagal noticed booking fees were, she felt, set quite high online with no room for negotiation."Padel is quite an expensive sport," she said. "It's not affordable for everybody."Mr Razah agreed: "The hourly rates need to be brought down.""Depending on where you play, at times it can be 50 or 60 pounds an hour."Before the courts were installed at the Tipton Sports Academy, tennis coach Jared Fellows was driving outside of the West Midlands to teach padel."I had to do training down in Bristol," he recalled. "I was travelling up to Derby to get practise in on the courts there before I could actually do my coaching."Mr Fellows now lives a five-minute walk from the centre where he works as a padel coach. The BBC tracked where courts can be found across Britain, using data from The Padel Directory, and discovered most are in traditionally wealthier areas, with the highest numbers in the south of when councils across the UK were asked by the BBC if they have put money into providing padel facilities, only three said they have out of the 330 that LTA has launched a five year padel strategy which aims to help make courts available for padel players in parks and leisure centres, alongside private sector one, according to Tom Murray, from the association."Ultimately it's up to the local authorities to strategically map out where and how many courts are appropriate for a particular area," he added."We're supporting them [local authorities] throughout their journey. That's going to result in greater participation."When told about only three councils having invested in padel facilities in the UK, he replied: "If you were to check that stat in a couple weeks' time, it would be significantly different already. That's how fast things are growing."For Ms Janagal, having this space in the Black Country has meant more people like herself have had the chance to try padel, marking a move towards inclusivity in the sport."It's important to change the narrative around padel because it's known for a certain demographic - people with money," she added. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.