Latest news with #Cumbernauld
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Shoppers race to popular supermarket as bargain Fairy pods for 100 washes spotted on shelves
SHOPPERS are rushing to a popular chain with over 300 stores across the UK after spotting a cracking deal on a household essential. Farmfoods is selling Fairy laundry pods offering 100 washes - yet priced at less than £20. 2 2 One savvy shopper took to social media to share their cheap find, writing: "100 washes are back in Farmfoods £19,99." This is a bargain compared to Amazon, where the same Fairy Platinum Non Bio Pods pack currently goes for £25.99. Farmfoods is a Scottish frozen food and grocery supermarket chain with 341 stores across the UK. Founded in 1955, Farmfoods is headquartered in Cumbernauld, Scotland, with a strong presence across Scotland, Northern England and Wales. While Farmfoods specialises in frozen foods, the chain also sells a range of groceries and household essentials. It comes as shoppers spotted Farmfoods is selling a limited edition chocolate that is a twist on a classic for just 49p. Fry's Turkish Delight Orange, which is a citrus twist on the classic floral tasting chocolate, was first picked up in stores last summer. Meanwhile, Tom Church, co-founder of discount code website shared with The Sun today the best times to shop at retailers like B&M and Poundland to save money. He advised that Wednesday mornings are the best time to visit B&M, as "this is when most of the new reductions are dropped". Cleaning fan reveals the cheap, easy way to get clothes smelling 'beautiful' without shelling out on pricey dryer sheets Similarly, for Home Bargains, Tom recommends shopping first thing in the morning, as larger stores typically receive deliveries around 7.30am each day. He also suggests taking a careful look around as you enter the store, explaining, 'Often, Home Bargains keeps the best deals at the front to lure you in. "You don't want to walk straight past them on the way in!' Superdrug often offers promotions and shopping incentives. Tom says the best time to shop there depends on "what you're buying, and timing your shop to coincide with a relevant offer". For example, the store often runs 3-for-2 deals on beauty products, so if you're restocking your makeup bag, it may be worth waiting for that offer to return. Aldi is well known for its middle aisle Special Buys, selling everything from air fryers to dupes for Dyson hairstylers. These deals drop on Thursdays and Sundays, so arriving early on those days gives you the best chance to grab the bargains. The store also has red stickers to point out an item has been reduced. Tom said: "If you get there early, you have a better chance of bagging them. Just look out for red stickers.' How to bag a bargain SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to find a cut-price item and bag a bargain… Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with. Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks. Sales are when you can pick up a real steal. Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on. Sign up to mailing lists and you'll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use and are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer. Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping. Bargain hunters can also use B&M's scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out. And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you'll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Ambition v realism: the balance at heart of Scotland's Murrayfield move
The growth of women's rugby in Scotland has been gathering pace in recent contracts. Glasgow and Edinburgh playing in the Celtic Challenge. The national team winning the WXV2 title. Heading to this summer's World Cup with genuine hope of reaching the knockout Scottish Rugby is seeking to capitalise on the increased exposure and interest by moving next year's Women's Six Nations match with England away from their normal home of Hive Stadium and into the big bowl at an exciting step and an ambitious one. Scotland sold out the 7,800-capacity Hive Stadium for the visit of England last year but moving to the 67,000-seater Murrayfield represents quite a leap of faith. 'We want to lay next gauntlet down' All of this is a far cry to what many players in the Scotland squad experienced when they first represented their country."My first couple of matches were at Broadwood in Cumbernauld," Scotland wing Rhona Lloyd told BBC Scotland. "We played before the under-20s men and there was hardly anybody there."It's been a massive journey over the past 30 years to get to this point and I'm so excited for this moment and then for what that will mean for the future."For Lloyd, the announcement is a reflection of all the work that has gone before and a source of real Rugby's head of women and girl's rugby, Gemma Fay, echoes that but does acknowledge that it is a bold says the initial target is to breach the capacity of the Hive. Then they will look to eclipse the crowd for the most-attended women's match ever held in Scotland, which was when the national football team played Jamaica before the 2019 World game at Hampden drew 18,555 fans and served to inspire not only those who were there, but also those running women's sport in this country."I was at that game and it was absolutely amazing," former goalkeeper Fay says. "It was a moment in time and it's almost like the gauntlet had been laid down to say, 'look what we can do in women's sport in Scotland'."We have an opportunity to better that, but we want to take everybody in women's sport in Scotland with us because this is not about us versus them. "This is about us together. And if we can then go on and lay that next gauntlet down, who knows what can happen within women's sport in Scotland." Lessons to learn from football? That day at Hampden six years ago was the springboard to the Scotland team moving all their matches to the national stadium. However, that record crowd figure proved to be the high watermark rather than a platform for sustained started to dwindle and the vast empty stands did not help create the big-game atmosphere fans crave and, crucially, did not inspire the lies the lesson for Scottish Rugby - ambition is to be embraced, but it must be grounded in a sense of realism about what is achievable, and is no suggestion at this stage of the women's national team decamping full-time to special atmosphere they have developed recently at the Hive should not be given up lightly, and moving next door to the big stadium for a one-off occasion seems like a sensible approach to test the and Glasgow have done so to good effect at Murrayfield and Hampden for their festive 1872 Cup derbies, and the hope is Scottish rugby fans will buy into this match in similar numbers."We don't want this to be a one-off," said Scotland head coach Bryan Easson. "We want to do it maybe once a season to show how far it's come."But we don't want to forget what we've got out there [at Hive Stadium]. The crowd that we've got, it is a different audience. "The Hive is a brilliant home for us and it will continue to be our home. We'll still be there, but we'll also enjoy the occasion out here [at Murrayfield] too."
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Fortress, sculpture or place of worship? A tour of Scotland's modernist churches
Modernist Churches of Scotland is a book that explores the remarkable postwar boom in church building. It shows buildings that are often tucked away in housing schemes and largely unnoticed by the wider public. These churches were built to serve emerging new communities. At no time before or since were so many churches built so quickly Modernist Churches of Scotland by Matthew Dransfield is available here Cumbernauld was designated a new town in 1955, and is infamous for its divisive brutalist shopping centre (1967), which is thought to be Britain's first shopping centre and the world's first multi-level covered town centre. Cumbernauld is also famous for appearing in the film Gregory's Girl. A key design element for the town was the separation of pedestrians from cars, achieved through bridges and underpasses instead of pedestrian crossings. Cumbernauld is regarded as representing a significant moment in modernist and brutalist town design This Grade A listed colossus of a building – red brick and brutalist in style – is acknowledged as one of the finest works of postwar church architecture in the country. More akin to a fortress than a place of worship, the Guardian described it as 'an architectural and spiritual outlier, a brooding, brutalist box, with thick brick walls, which aped the heft of medieval Caledonian castles'. Due to structural problems, the 90ft high campanile, which consisted of two brick slabs with slatted timberscreen infilling, was dismantled in 1987 This Category B listed church is situated on a steeply raised site in the centre of the mid-20th century new town housing scheme of Livingston. It features a modernist, brutalist style with an angled roof rising to a prominent singular point to the south. The church cost £88,000 to complete. The congregation space is Scandinavian in style, with a terrazzo floor, a raised curved altar plinth, curved whitewalls with doors to confessionals, and a radially boarded timber ceiling. Despite alterations, the church has retained its original character This striking, almost windowless Category A listed building is a hidden gem. Despite being only a couple of streets away from one of the main arteries in and out of Edinburgh, you can only catch a glimpse of it if you know where to look. The original timber seating is arranged as in an amphitheatre or hillside hollow, reminiscent of conventicle churches of the 1800s where worshippers met in hillside hollows south of Edinburgh. There was originally a moat, but it proved problematic to the building's fabric Rosyth is located on the Firth of Forth and is Scotland's first Garden City. It is best known for its dockyard. Rosyth and nearby Charlestown were centres for ship-breaking, salvaging much of the German fleet scuttled at Gutter Sound, Scapa Flow, as well as the Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania and the White Star Line's RMS Olympic. The naval base closed in 1994, and no Royal Navy ships are based at Rosyth, though small ships return for docking and refit activities This Category C listed church features a dramatic hyperbolic paraboloid roof, finished internally with timber. Windows with plain coloured glass between the roof and the walls light the interior This Category A listed building was commissioned in 1958 as a church, parochial centre and manse. It was subject to a very tight budget of £34,000. Alberto Morrocco created the large mural, The Way of the Cross, completed in 1962 St Francis Xavier's church was designed by the Edinburgh-based architect Alexander Ritchie Conlon. It replaced an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1955. The church features a modern block design of exposed concrete. The distinctive entrance tower showcases the architectural talent of the time. The carved concrete figures at the base of the fins represent the four Evangelists – lion, man, eagle and ox - created by Elisabeth Dempster. The prominent carving of St Francis Xavier was crafted by Maxwell Allan from a single block of Blaxter stone This Category A listed church features a light mustard-coloured rendered brick (originally cream render), built on a slope and connected to the presbytery. The church features stained glass by Sadie F McLellan, a renowned Scottish stained glass artist The Church of Scotland is consolidating and merging some congregations. This one merged with the nearby Old Kirk which was sold in 2015, and the congregations merged with Cramond Kirk. In the 1980s, the Muirhouse housing estate and its residents were blighted by drug addiction, crime and antisocial behaviour. Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh lived in Muirhouse, as did former Scottish footballer Gordon Strachan. Major redevelopment of the area is underway This church is a prime example of A-frame construction, typical of its era. It is in immaculate condition and doesn't look over 60 years old St Andrew's parish church is the only church built in Scotland by Sir Basil Spence, who designed Coventry Cathedral. Spence reused stone from the earlier Drumsheugh parish church. The cross and ball on the bell tower were covered in gold leaf, and this 'light of Christ' was intended to be seen over the Forth in Fife. The interior of the church reflects Scandinavian influences, which were common at the time Photograph: Matthew Dransfield Not a church, but a significant modernist religious building that is Category A Listed. Light floods into the building dramatically through coloured glass. Located in the south of the city, the building comprises a main structure with two large chapels and a cremation and services block, a separate private chapel, a garden of remembrance and staff residences. A pyramid on the roof serves as a spire and also allows light into the large chapel, directly over where the coffin sits during the funeral service. The main chapel has seating for 250 people St Gabriel's is a Category B listed example of postwar ecclesiastical architecture, retaining its original character and form with its unusual modernist concentric circular design. The church features a sloping flat roof with three bands of roof lights. The main congregation space has solid curved walls and no windows, with natural light provided at floor level by a horizontal glazed band. Shallow concrete ponds, emptied in 2013, were located under the decorative windows, designed to reflect sunlight through the stained-glass window Sir Frank Mears & Partners were appointed as architects to design Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, with construction beginning in 1967. The Wester Hailes Association of Tenants formed soon after. Their newsletter reported: 'A primary school, a shop and lots of houses – that about sums up Wester Hailes. We need a secondary school quickly, we need a community centre, nursery or pre-school facilities for the very young children and their mothers, a club of some kind for our teenagers, more shops, a post office, letter boxes. You name it, we haven't got it' Photograph: Matthew Dransfield
Daily Record
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Full list of Scots Santander branches closing in summer as 95 UK stores to shut
The major bank has revealed the list of its branches set to close this year- including 10 Scottish branches to close in June and July. With the rise of mobile and online banking, the British high street has seen an influx of bank branch closures over the past few years. From Bank of Scotland to Halifax closing their doors, it seems like it won't be long before our money is managed predominantly on the internet instead of in a physical shop. And Santander is hopping on the bank closure bandwagon, shutting a whopping 95 UK branches this year. And Scots can expect to see 10 Santander branches close their doors over June and July. As of May 30, the bank has disclosed that it will shut branches all over the nation, and while the majority of closures will occur in June and July, there are still a number of branches without confirmed closure dates, reported the Express. The earliest closure date is June 16, and it will see Clacton, Croydon, Gateshead, Launceston, and Peterhead all lose their Santander branch. The first store to close in Scotland will be Santander's Arbroath branch, which is due to shut its doors a day later on June 17. Scotland's last branch to close this year will be Wishaw, on July 22, although Santander's Turriff branch is the only Scottish store yet to be given a confirmed closing date. The Surrey Quays branch will be the last store in the UK to close, scheduled for November 10. Scottish Santander branches closing in June and July Arbroath, June 17 Cumbernauld, July 7 Glasgow Newton Mearns, June 23 Glasgow St Vincents Street, June 14 Hawick, July 24 Musselburgh, June 30 Peterhead, June 16 Saltcoats, July 21 Turriff, as yet unconfirmed Wishaw, July 22 Full list of Santander branches closing in 2025: Aberdare, June 24 Arbroath, June 17 Armagh, July 1 Blackwood June, 23 Blyth, August 5 Bognor Regis, July 14 Borehamwood, July 1 Brecon, June 25 Brixton, August 11 Caernarfon, July 7 Camborne, July 7 Canvey Island, August 5 Clacton, June 16 Cleveleys, June 23 Colne, July 14 Colwyn Bay, July 24 Crowborough, July 23 Croydon, June 16 Cumbernauld, July 7 Didsbury, July 8 Downpatrick, August 6 Dungannon, June 23 Edgware Road London, August 12 Eltham, June 23 Exmouth, July 15 Falmouth, July 21 Farnham, July 29 Felixstowe, July 16 Finchley, August 6 Fleet, June 30 Formby, August 11 Gateshead, June 16 Glasgow St Vincent St, June 24 Glasgow, The Avenue, Newton Mearns, June 23 Greenford, June 24 Hackney, July 15 Hawick, July 24 Herne Bay, July 8 Hertford, July 29 Holloway, July 14 Holywell, August 13 Honiton, July 14 Kidderminster, June 18 Kilburn, June 17 Kirkby, July 22 Launceston, June 16 Louth, June 17 Magherafelt, June 24 Malvern, July 2 Market Harborough, July 1 Musselburgh, June 30 New Milton, July 28 Peterhead, June 16 Plympton, August 14 Portadown, June 30 Pudsey, July 28 Rawtenstall, July 15 Ross-On-Wye, July 30 Ruislip, July 7 Rustington, August 5 Saltcoats, July 21 Seaford, July 14 Shaftesbury, July 23 Sidcup, August 11 St Austell, July 8 St Neots, July 30 Stokesley, July 31 Strabane, July 23 Surrey Quays London, November 10 Swadlincote, June 30 Tenterden, July 7 Torquay, June 17 Tottenham, July 8 Whitley Bay, August 6 Willerby, August 13 Wimborne, August 4 Wishaw, July 22 Branches closing, with dates yet to be confirmed: Bexhill Billericay Dover Droitwich Dunstable East Grinstead Holyhead Ilkley Larne Lytham St Annes Maldon Morley North Walsham Redcar Saffron Walden Turriff Uckfield Urmston Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Stop policing the internet and get back on the beat, Scotland's officers are urged
Police officers need to stop 'wasting their time' probing social media posts and get back on the streets to deter crime, a senior officer said yesterday. Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), said it was not the job of police to intervene when people were offended by posts on X and other platforms. He said unless a crime was suspected officers should be 'nowhere near' social media and must get back into the community to prevent and fight crime. Mr Hay has previously warned that police must be 'pacifists in the culture war' and stay away from the 'divisive, political and toxic nature of some of the debate raging in wider society '. Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'The public are crying out for more police on the beat after years of SNP cuts to officer numbers. 'The SNP's misguided priorities have seen valuable police time taken up with laws like Humza Yousaf's reckless Hate Crime Act, which have left them unable to respond to every crime. 'Ministers should show some common sense and listen to these calls - and let officers fight crime and protect our communities.' Mr Hay, who addressed delegates at the ASPS annual conference in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, told the Mail: 'I certainly think social media is a terrible environment where there's a lot of toxic stuff - but is it criminal? 'That is always the question that we would ask – does it reach that threshold? 'If it doesn't reach that threshold, we should be nowhere near it. 'So whether or not you are offended by a comment isn't necessarily what makes it a criminal offence. 'There's a threshold there that needs to be met and if it doesn't we should be nowhere near it – we shouldn't be wasting our time.' Instead Mr Hay, who previously warned that police must be 'pacifists in the culture war', said there should be a renewed drive to get officers back on the beat amid concern that police have withdrawn from communities, as manpower declines and stations are shut down or sold off. He said: 'Something that's always been distinct in Scottish policing is that we are there in communities, and visible, and we absolutely need to invest in that area. 'We need to be a service that's close to people and not simply a uniform that they see driving past once in a while. 'If we invest in that way, I think we will see a much greater dividend in terms of community confidence. 'We will see much lower levels of violence because when it's 'Rob Hay, the local community cop', it's very different from when it's just a faceless uniform that turns up - it changes your relationship with the public. 'So being present and being visible in communities is an area that is essential for government and Police Scotland to invest in.' Last month, police chiefs were criticised by a watchdog for their handling of a row over an MSP whose mocking tweet about the Scottish Government's transgender policy was logged as a 'hate incident'. As the Mail revealed last year, a trans activist reported Murdo Fraser's post on X, formerly Twitter, but officers decided it was not a crime and should be classed as a 'hate incident' - even though no law had been broken. Looking at how police handled the MSP's complaints about the incident, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) said the force failed to rebut Mr Fraser's claim that he had been treated differently to JK Rowling and Humza Yousaf, the former First Minister, when they made contentious claims. On November 18, 2023, Tory MSP Mr Fraser shared a column written by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman, which claimed the government's non-binary equality action plan would lead to children being 'damaged by this cult'. Commenting on the shared post, Mr Fraser said: 'Choosing to identify as 'non-binary' is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat.' In March, there was a row after a couple south of the Border were arrested over complaints they made about their daughter's primary school, which included comments on WhatsApp. Maxie Allen and his partner Rosalind Levine, from Borehamwood, said they were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property. Hertfordshire Police said the arrests 'were necessary to fully investigate the allegations' but there was 'insufficient evidence' to take any action. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Angela Constance acknowledged the 'enormity' of the challenges facing Police Scotland at a time of 'evolving threats and uncertainties'. But she said the 'reality' was that like the rest of the public sector, policing had to operate within a 'tight fiscal environment' and that the government was investing 'what (it) can'. She spoke after a speech by Mr Hay in which he warned of a 'risk to public safety' if the force does not get the 'investment it needs'. Ms Constance said: 'In recent years we have seen some of the toughest financial contexts that we've faced since devolution, with the financial crash, austerity, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, and we know that there are no quick fixes, that there are only hard choices.' Both the Justice Secretary and Chief Constable Jo Farrell, who also spoke at the event, set out a 'new model' of policing that they said would free up officers' time so they could prioritise frontline work, while also improving their wellbeing. Among the measures described, Ms Constance said the introduction of body-worn cameras had been a 'game-changer' in reducing pressure on officers, and that a pilot summary case management project had seen 11,000 fewer officers called to give evidence in court. In his address, the ASPS president had described policing in Scotland as being at a 'critical juncture', and asked that the Chief Constable not be forced to make the 'stark choice' between cutting pay or cutting police numbers. He welcomed the changes and initiatives being introduced to help the force work 'smarter, not harder', but said achieving them required a 'commensurate investment'. Mr Hay said: 'Eighty-seven per cent of our budget is on people. 'So making sure that the police officers are appropriately paid and compensated for the risks and limitations on their lifestyles as a result of the office they hold is absolutely key to making sure we've got a sustainable service, that we get really good people into policing - not just for now, but for next generation as well.' He said the force was calling for a pay rise 'similar' to the 8 per cent awarded last week to NHS workers in Scotland. Mr Hay said: 'I understand we're in a really challenging fiscal environment, but it's clear where the political will exists, the money can be found.' He also warned of an impending recruitment crisis, pointing out that 'around a quarter' of officers can retire in the next five years, and that Police Scotland was 'competing for a share of a shrinking working-age population in Scotland'.
