Latest news with #Calverhall
BBC News
7 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Shropshire man says being gay he felt an imposter in farming
"As a gay person, living rurally, if I'm going to work on a farm – historically you've got to imagine it as a very heterosexual environment – I feel like an imposter coming in."Shropshire farmer Gareth Hales Povey had worked in hospitality for a number of years and felt nervous about making the career the dairy farmer, from Calverhall, who currently works at Harper Adams University, found the charity Shropshire Rural also a volunteer at the charity, Mr Hales Povey said support from its staff gave him the confidence to give farming a try and he has not looked back. The charity provides a confidential service for farmers and their families during periods of anxiety and stress. 'Stop overthinking things' He said completing his first shift had felt like a huge achievement, adding that everybody he had encountered on the farm had been accepting and welcoming."It was more my issue going in," he said. "Scenarios running through my head, overthinking about what would happen."As a gay person, there's always that element of wherever we are in life we kind of weigh up the scene, where we are."He said farming was perceived as being one of the most macho and heterosexual industries."My perception was I'm the first one, turns out I wasn't the first one," he said. "There was a group of us, which was lovely."He is now using his experiences to help others going through similar issues."I was thrilled to be able to give some of my life experiences and wisdom on entering farming as a new profession," Mr Hales Povey said. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Shropshire firefighter praised for saving life of cricketer
An off-duty firefighter has been praised for helping to save the life of a cricketer who had suffered a cardiac Wilson, 41, had been watching his son make his senior debut at Wellington cricket club in Shropshire on Saturday when one of the visiting team the player's son administered CPR, Mr Wilson used the club's defibrillator to help him Wilson had been trained by the fire service to use the equipment and said: "I was straight into trauma incident mode I guess." The cricketer, 59-year-old Simon Parker from Calverhall Cricket Club, had been batting in the match against Wellington's fourth team when he suddenly Wilson said: "I can remember the over had just finished and Simon, I could see, had just turned around to talk to our wicketkeeper."He said he turned away for a minute and then heard shouts for first aid and saw Mr Parker lying on the added that he ran over to help and found Mr Parker's son, Alex, performing captain, Oliver Griffiths, said watching it all unfold had been "pretty horrific"."Watching a son try and save his dad's life was quite emotional and it still affects me a little bit now," he added."He was saying come on, I'm not letting you go, come back to me." 'Calm management' Mr Wilson said Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service trained its firefighters "to a relatively high level for trauma and first response care".He set up the defibrillator and operated it, with Wellington Cricket Club praising him for his "calm management of the situation".He said: "I just got in there and helped and guided people and we did what needed to get done I suppose."After shocking Mr Parker three times with the defibrillator, an ambulance Griffiths said: "They were very clear that by the time they arrived the hard work had been done and people like Matt and Alex had saved Simon's life."He added that he had spoken to Mr Parker on Tuesday and he was doing "very, very well" and had thanked everyone who helped said one of the first questions he asked was "How many runs did I score?" and noted that Mr Parker was disappointed they had not won the Griffiths said that was typical of the man, but there were "much bigger things than cricket". Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
