Latest news with #Cheesman
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Goodwill celebrates Special Olympics athletes in North Haven
NORTH HAVEN (WTNH) — Coming up this Friday are the opening ceremonies of the 2025 Connecticut Special Olympics. Some of the athletes taking part are clients of the Goodwill organization. Goodwill is celebrating those special athletes. John Cheesman is working his normal job on Wednesday at the Goodwill donation center in North Haven. Annual Special Olympics Torch Run begins in Connecticut 'I sort the clothes, give them to my co-workers if they're nice and clean,' Cheesman said. Goodwill is much more than just a place to donate your used clothes. They use the proceeds from selling your old things to provide all kinds of care and activities for folks like Cheesman with all kinds of levels of abilities. 'We come up with programs to keep them active, taking them out, just to keep them going,' Jmaela Douglas, a community activities specialist with Goodwill, said. On Wednesday, they are celebrating John and everyone else who will be showing off their skills at the Special Olympics this weekend. It's an empowering opportunity that helps people with intellectual disabilities on and off the field 'They get to show off their skills, but it's great camaraderie,' said Goodwill senior director of programs Brian Walsh. 'People that they work with, spend days with, live with, it's a great opportunity for them.' Cheesman is a veteran by now. He will be competing in three events. 'Softball throw, standing long jump, and 50-meter walk,' Cheesman said. While there might not be cheering crowds for John Cheesman, the clothes sorter, it's a different story for John Cheesman, the Special Olympian. 'Different people that go there say 'John, you did a good job!'' Cheesman said, adding hot it makes him feel. 'Very good, very good.' Over the next couple of days, you're going to see plenty of faces you know from News 8, like Laura Hutchinson, joining law enforcement officers in running the Special Olympics torch all over Connecticut. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tragic dad and daughter deaths at Darlington home blaze sparks coroner report
The tragic deaths of a pensioner and his daughter following a 990C Darlington house blaze has sparked a report from a coroner over preventing future deaths. Philip Cheesman, 79, and his daughter Loraine, 54, died in May 2023 after a 'fierce' inferno ravaged their Woodland Terrace home in the early hours. An inquest into their deaths, held last month, found that their hoarding and "executive dysfunction" made a 'more than minimal' contribution to the fire. Coroner Crispin Oliver has now written a prevention of future deaths report, saying there is a risk that future deaths could take place unless action is taken. As previously reported, both Mr Cheesman and his daughter were injured in the blaze just before 5am on May 13, but could not be saved. The blaze ravaged the Darlington home (Image: NORTHERN ECHO) Mr Cheesman, a retired taxi driver, was rescued from the front room but sadly passed away hours later at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. Cyprus-born former seamstress Ms Cheesman, who had a history of arthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis, was found dead in her first floor bedroom. The inquest, which ruled their deaths as accidental, heard how the pair were known to the fire service as being at high risk of a fire due to their "cluttered" hoarder home. The report now raises concerns over how "consideration of executive dysfunction can be incorporated into the assessment of mental capacity". It states: 'During the course of the evidence I heard from social workers and safeguarding professionals than in relation to assessing whether 'the point' had been reached in relation to an adult suffering from hoarding disorder and executive dysfunction there was no specific guidance and that such guidance would in future be welcome. The aftermath of the fire (Image: NORTHERN ECHO) 'Currently they are constrained by existing guidance for assessing mental capacity, which does not directly recognise executive dysfunction, or for assessing whether the adult's behaviour constitutes a potentially chargeable criminal or regulatory offence, for example in relation to public nuisance, health hazard, or anti social behaviour, rather than the root cause of the behaviour – a mental disorder or disorders. 'So, the matter of concern consists of this request – for guidance to be provided as to how to incorporate consideration of executive dysfunction into the assessment of mental capacity and how to assess when the point when external intervention can be triggered has been reached.' According to experts, who gave evidence during the inquest, a safeguarding referral was made in July 2022 over concerns about the pair's living conditions. However, the probe was closed after some improvements in the house had been seen. Mr Cheesman, who used a wheelchair and stairlift, and his daughter, who used sticks, had significant mobility issues, giving them a "reduced chance of escaping the fire". Police parked at the scene (Image: NORTHERN ECHO) The coroner described the case as one of 'significant hoarding and dysfunction', with both having the mental capacity to make decisions but not the executive decision to control behaviour. The court heard that Mr Cheesman took over caring for his daughter after his wife's sudden death in 1995, and that their hoarding had "fluctuated" over the years before the fatal fire. But Mr Oliver said a fire investigation report, done several days after the fire by Lee Aspery, fire investigation manager for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, put the level of clutter in the living room as eight out of 10. Ms Cheesman's bedroom was then rated nine out of 10. While it was noted that the fire "could have happened at any other property", the significant rubbish, including toasters and other furniture, meant the blaze was a 'superflash' due to ventilation through the front windows and a dog flap. Read More: Car ploughs into Yarm School entrance destroying wall Father and daughter died in Woodland Terrace, Darlington fire Police update on Darlington 'arson attack' on Durham Road Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. . The court then heard that the pair were recipients of social care from Heritage Healthcare and Careline, provided by Darlington Council, who visited the property multiple times a day. On May 9, just four days before the fire, a carer says they found "green and slimy" out-of-date food in their fridge, which was escalated to Careline but was not escalated to the council for safeguarding as it understood the home's conditions were 'not so bad'. The recipient of the report is redacted, but the inquest previously heard that Mr Oliver would write to the Secretary of State for Health regarding the prevention of future deaths report.
BBC News
11-03-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Evelyn Cheesman: The scientist who got stuck in a spider's web
Evelyn Cheesman had 200 insects named after her, got trapped in a giant spider's web and accidently sent a poisoned spear to King George V. But as a female scientist, Evelyn Cheesman, from Westwell near Ashford in Kent, fought prejudice while working as the first keeper of insects at London Zoo in work, including her discoveries about the earth's tectonic plates, features in a new book - Wildly Different - by Sarah Lonsdale, from Adisham, said she was inspired to write about Ms Cheesman after reading a newspaper article about her collection of 42,000 insects. The middle of five children, Ms Cheesman was born in Westwell in 1881 and began her love of nature by hunting glow worms in her Lonsdale said: "She often went out just with her Collie dog, Shep, collecting glow worms and snails from her garden which she let loose in the house, horrifying her mother. "She was fascinated with the natural world from a very young age."Ms Cheesman applied to be a vet at the Royal Veterinary College but was rejected because she was a woman. She was later rejected again after applying under a male pseudonym when the college recognised her handwriting. Ms Cheesman received an opening at London Zoo in 1917 and replenished its insect collection by seeking bugs brought in with fruit in Covent an expedition in Gorgona Island, Colombia, Ms Cheesman became trapped in a giant spider's web for more than an hour and was forced to cut her way out using a nail is also well known for her solo trips to the South Pacific, which she visited eight times, according to the Natural History in Malekula, an island in Vanuatu, Ms Cheesman was asked to select a gift to send back to King George picked a spear that was three times her was sent back to Sandringham - but upon testing it was found to have been tipped with the poison strychnine and the King refused to accept Lonsdale said: "I like her determination and passion for what she was into her sixties she was climbing up a cliff face in Papua New Guinea in her old school lacrosse shoes."
Fox News
10-02-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Figure skating mom starts Skates of Hope to honor DC plane crash victims
Christine Cheesman is a homeschool mom, an art teacher and a new figure skater. Despite all those roles, she has decided to take on another: Skates of Hope founder. Cheesman, who lives in North Carolina, was at an ice skating rink when she learned what happened to American Airlines Flight 5342 when it collided with a U.S. Army helicopter in the evening hours of Jan. 29 in Washington, D.C., killing all 67 onboard when the two aircraft plunged into the Potomac River. Twenty-eight of the victims from flight 5342 were "members of the figure skating community," the Olympics website states. Eleven were young athletes, four were coaches and 13 were family members. "As a mom, it took my breath away," she said about learning of the plane crash. "Even now, thinking about it, it's really difficult to try to understand what the parents are feeling and the families that have lost everything." Cheesman's 12-year-old daughter became hooked on figure skating following a school field trip, and the mom hits the ice, as well. "Being on the ice, it's freedom," she said. "It's beautiful. Each day I get on the ice after this tragedy, it just has like a renewed sense of purpose for me and for my daughter, as well." "I think it's difficult for her to understand," Cheesman said. "I mean, these are people that she looked up to online and followed their Instagram stories." Skates of Hope gifts skates in honor of those lost on flight 5342. Cheesman uses Instagram to help her take in the donations before sending them out to skaters in need. "The skaters who are receiving the skates are just so grateful," she said, adding that coaches are reaching out to her to bless athletes who have fallen on hard times by motivating them with a free pair of skates. Cheesman's goal is to make Skates of Hope a nonprofit organization, and any monetary donations that come in would be able to go to the families who lost loved ones in the D.C. plane crash. Anyone who wishes to donate skates or be the recipient of a pair should reach out to her via Instagram. The D.C. plane crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
