Latest news with #ClaireThompson
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Royal Navy aircraft carrier departs from Portsmouth after upgrade
The Royal Navy's £3.2 billion aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has left Portsmouth in the middle of two extensive periods of maintenance 65,000 tonne ship, which was commissioned into service in 2017, has been undergoing "significant" upgrade work at Portsmouth Naval Base for the past nine the ship will undergo sea trials to test newly installed navigation and propulsion control systems before going into dry dock at Rosyth in Scotland for seven Claire Thompson, HMS Queen Elizabeth's Commanding Officer, said: "The departure of HMS Queen Elizabeth from Portsmouth marks the end of one phase of our upkeep period and the beginning of another. The Royal Navy says HMS Queen Elizabeth is undergoing the equivalent of a car MOT after six years that has included a global deployment to the Indo-Pacific in 2021 and a series of NATO operations in European waters. The time in dry dock will allow engineers to inspect and improve systems inaccessible when the ship is afloat."We have achieved an enormous amount in 2025, with a significant upgrade to our propulsion system being the most notable item amidst a wide range of engineering projects tackled alongside our partners from industry," Capt Thompson added: "My focus remains generating a highly capable team that can take the ship from our docking period and work towards front-line duties."The sea trials will assess the 500-strong ship's company's ability to deal with a range of emergencies – including damage control and fire and floods training. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Children's literature festival returns to city
Organisers of a children's literature festival are encouraging those who attend to be creative and use their imagination to write and draw a fictional future. With a theme of "What if...." The Big Malarkey Festival will return to East Park in Hull on Saturday 28 June and Sunday 29 June. Organised by Hull Libraries, the family friendly event will include writers, dancers, illustrators, poets, actors and musicians. Festival producer Claire Thompson said: "It's so exciting to see the children meeting the authors and sharing their artwork with artists." The event, for those aged 16 and under, is a celebration of children's literature. Organisers said they would like children to be creative and write stories by daring to ask themselves "What if?" For example, "What if we want to fly to Mars?" or "what if a rollercoaster could take you all around the world?" they said. The event is a combination of information, arts and science where children can learn and get creative through writing, drawing and talking with authors. The first festival was delivered as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017 when about 8,000 people attended, according to Hull Libraries. Ms Thompson said: "We're particularly excited to welcome Dr Huw Lewis-Jones who is an arctic explorer and going to be telling us all about penguins. "We're also happy to be bringing lots of brilliant authors and illustrators to the festival." The event includes a doodle room with famous children's illustrators, an acrobatic theatre show, music workshops and a science show. Ms Thompson added: "The Big Malarkey Festival is a highlight in the Hull Libraries calendar. "We love welcoming everyone to East Park to explore storytelling and creative arts." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Literacy event works to improve child reading rate Children given free books at literature festival The Big Malarkey Festival
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Children's literature festival returns to Hull
Organisers of a children's literature festival are encouraging those who attend to be creative and use their imagination to write and draw a fictional a theme of "What if...." The Big Malarkey Festival will return to East Park in Hull on Saturday 28 June and Sunday 29 by Hull Libraries, the family friendly event will include writers, dancers, illustrators, poets, actors and musicians. Festival producer Claire Thompson said: "It's so exciting to see the children meeting the authors and sharing their artwork with artists." The event, for those aged 16 and under, is a celebration of children's literature. Organisers said they would like children to be creative and write stories by daring to ask themselves "What if?"For example, "What if we want to fly to Mars?" or "what if a rollercoaster could take you all around the world?" they said. The event is a combination of information, arts and science where children can learn and get creative through writing, drawing and talking with first festival was delivered as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017 when about 8,000 people attended, according to Hull Thompson said: "We're particularly excited to welcome Dr Huw Lewis-Jones who is an arctic explorer and going to be telling us all about penguins."We're also happy to be bringing lots of brilliant authors and illustrators to the festival."The event includes a doodle room with famous children's illustrators, an acrobatic theatre show, music workshops and a science Thompson added: "The Big Malarkey Festival is a highlight in the Hull Libraries calendar."We love welcoming everyone to East Park to explore storytelling and creative arts." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
PWHL Vancouver Adds Talent And Notable Grit In Expansion
PWHL Vancouver took a slightly different route when it came to their roster building through the PWHL expansion roster building process. While Seattle bulked up on high end offense, Vancouver selected a mix of grit, skill, and solid role players. Vancouver also put emphasis on their blueline bringing together Claire Thompson, Sophie Jaques, and Ashton Bell, all members of Canada's national team, along with Boston rookie Sydney Bard. Advertisement Vancouver's offense will be on par with many in the league with the team bringing in Sarah Nurse, Jennifer Gardiner, Izzy Daniel, Abby Boreen, Brooke McQuigge, Denisa Krizova, and Gabby Rosenthal. It's a hard nosed group who will be difficult to play against following the path that the Minnesota Frost have traveled to two straight Walter Cups. Their group features a number of players who go to the net hard, and are hard on the puck along the walls. Vancouver didn't acquire the same top end talent in the draft, but they could still chase big names in free agency including Hannah Miller, a Vancouver native who starred for the Toronto Sceptres. The final piece to Vancouver's puzzle is starting netminder Emerance Maschmeyer.
CBC
07-06-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Get to know Sarah Nurse, one of the PWHL stars joining Vancouver's new team this fall
Vancouver's inaugural Professional Women's Hockey League team has already signed some big names: this week, the team signed Surrey's Jenn Gardiner, all-star defenders Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques, goalie Emerance Maschmeyer and all-around hockey legend Sarah Nurse. Nurse has two Olympic medals under her belt: a silver in 2018 and a gold from the 2020 Tokyo Games. She's been with the Toronto Sceptres since the PWHL launched in 2023, as one of the team's first three signings. During the inaugural season, she tied for second in league scoring with 23 points in 24 games and was voted a Second Team All-Star. Vancouverites saw her play this past season at the sold-out PWHL game at Rogers Arena in January, where the Montreal Victoire beat the Sceptres 4-2. This week, she signed a one-year contract with PWHL Vancouver. "It's like a whirlwind," she said. "I am so excited to be able to play professional hockey in Vancouver. I think it's really the opportunity of a lifetime, and being here in January, I saw the passion, I saw the zest, I saw the excitement for women's hockey. If the fans could show up for a Toronto and Montreal team, I can't even imagine how amazing it's gonna be for their own hometown team." Nurse joined Amy Bell on CBC's On The Coast for an interview following the announcement. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Did this move to Vancouver come as a surprise for you? A little bit. With the expansion draft and the rules and how everything was going to shake out, I knew it was a possibility that I would be left unprotected by Toronto. I knew that if I went to an expansion team, Vancouver was my target. After talking to Cara Gardner Morey from Vancouver, I couldn't be more excited because I just know that it's the right fit for me. What has playing for the Sceptres been like? I think from day one, when this league started, I was blown away by the support everywhere. Toronto embraced us with everything that they have. We were the first professional women's sports team in Toronto. Now, we've been joined by the NSL soccer team and also the WNBA team that's coming. There's so many hockey fans, there's so many young hockey players who are coming up within the Greater Toronto Area. They're absolutely incredible, and I'm so grateful for their support. How important was it for a new Vancouver team to sign a high-profile name like yours? I was obviously very honoured to be in consideration to be brought to Vancouver. I take a lot of pride in what I do off of the ice and my impact in the community on the fans and the supporters. But I think, ultimately, my biggest goal is to make a splash and make an impact on the ice. I want to be the best possible player that I can be for this organization and really put my best foot forward because I know that I have a lot of skills and abilities that I think are going to be great on this team. What kind of role do you think you're going to be able to play with this new team? I have very high expectations of myself. I definitely want to be a leader on and off of the ice. I think with the other girls and Sophie and Claire, they're pretty locked down on the back end. They're two very, very world-class defencemen. And then Emerance in net, an absolute brick wall. I think she's been probably the best goalie in the PWHL for the last two years. Jenn Gardiner, who's young, new, fresh talent who has so much potential, and it's going to be great to see her blossom and grow. You battled a long-term injury this past season. How are you feeling as you get prepared to hit the ice in Vancouver this fall? I'm feeling so optimistic. I'm excited to have some time to actually fully rehab my knee and be able to be the absolute best that I can be when November comes. I'm excited to put in the work. I think I'm going to get on the ice next week, which I'm actually itching to do, especially with the news and signing in Vancouver. I want the season to start now. Off the ice, your contributions are just as huge. You hosted Nursey Nights in Toronto to provide community groups tickets to the Sceptre games. You helped found the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association and are also a part of the PWHL players' union. And you're an advocate against racism in hockey. What do you hope to continue here in Vancouver? All of the above. I really have a passion for making this sport as inclusive as possible and making sure that our sport represents the fabric of our nation. I think that we are such a diverse, multicultural society, and I think that our experiences should really reflect that in our game. I'm so encouraged to come to Vancouver and continue the work. I'm excited to bring Nursey Nights to Vancouver. We've been able, we brought 200 girls over this last year into Toronto Sceptres games, and so I'm looking to do something very similar in Vancouver. I think there's so many great community initiatives that our team can be a part of, and that's something that's a passion for all of us. Your cousin, Darnell Nurse, plays for the Edmonton Oilers, who are currently battling it out for the Stanley Cup. How exciting is it to see him and the Oilers in the finals again? I could not be more proud of that boy. He has gone through so much, that team has gone through so much and honestly, they are absolutely rolling right now. So I'm very hopeful and I know they're going to have a different result than they had last year. They've been on the stage. They know how big it is, and they've been absolutely rolling. So I'm so proud of him.
