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Edinburgh Reporter
04-08-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Young Midlothian bowlers excel at Ayr ‘nationals'
Bowls Midlothian is celebrating unprecedented success at the Scottish national finals in Ayr. The district returned with a record-breaking medal haul of three golds, one silver and a bronze. The new Scottish champions include Dalkeith's Jacek Goldie who won the under-18 singles title. Jacek was joined at the top of the podium by Jack Davidson of Wallyford who was crowned Scottish under-25 champion. Completing the golden treble was Davidson's club-mate Alex Paterson, who won the Para B7/8 Scottish Champion title. Jack Goldie said: 'Playing in Ayr was a great experience that I really enjoyed. Going there I just wanted to win my first game and anything else was a bonus, so winning my first and second game was really good and gave me a lot of confidence. After winning my next game I thought I had a really good chance at winning the tournament. 'Getting to the final was great and all the support I got from everyone was amazing and it really helped me. Winning the final from 16-3 down was a great moment.' The success story continued with Pathhead duo Morag and Colin Walker in the Mixed Pairs where they claimed a silver medal. The future of the sport was also on full display as Kaitlyn Rodger (Dalkeith) and Alfie Dunlop (Deantown) secured a hard-earned bronze medal in the Scottish under-18 pairs. Further highlighting Midlothian's strength in depth was the under18 triples team of James Amos, Dylan Dalglish, and Ryan Harris, who ereacdh the quarter-finals. Gary Rodger, Acting Bowls Midlothian Youth Match Secretary, said: 'Our Midlothian youths done themselves proud. 'Over and above the ability shown on the green I'm extremely proud of the way our young bowlers handled themselves throughout the whole process, they are a real credit to their clubs and themselves.' David J Kelly, Bowls Midlothian secretary who was present all week,added: 'Having been involved in bowls for a long time, it's the most medals brought back in a single year I can remember. It is a testament to the dedicated volunteers that we have.' The sentiment was echoed by Bowls Midlothian President, Andrew Robertson who said: 'To have this level of success during my presidential year makes it all the more special.' Pictrred left to right are: Alfie Dunlop (Deantown), Kaitlyn Rodger (Dalkeith), Ryan Harris (Polton), Jamie Amos (Dalkeith), Jacek Goldie (Dalkeith) and Dylan Dalglish (Bonnyrigg). Like this: Like Related
Edinburgh Reporter
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
DL Shawfair on a tennis march
One of the newest clubs in the VMH Solicitors East tennis leagues – David Lloyd, Shawfair1 – have won Division 9a after going head-to-head with rivals Gullane over the 10 match season just ended. Captained by Zak Rafih the Danderhall based outfit edged out Gullane on sets won after each club had won their home tie in the fixture leaving points level at 18 apiece. There were some notable individual performances from DL Shawfair notably from Dylan Weir (who ironically missed the photo call). Dylan won all 12 sets played. Others to excel were Neil Fraser (19 sets won, 1 lost), Stoyan Ivanov (17-1), Zak Rafih (16-2), Aaron Matthews (15-1), Kevin Soto (15-3) and Craig Nisbet (10-2). Other teams in the league were Waverley 3, Dalgety Bay 4, Dalkeith 3 and Lomond Park 5. Zak Rafik said: 'Very chuffed … very excited to keep climbing and see where we can get to/' Photographed after an away match on the blaes courts at Dalkeith are, left to right: Aaron Matthews, Zak Rafih, Neil Fraser, Craig Nisbet, Stoyan Ivanov and Kevin Soto. Like this: Like Related
The Sun
07-07-2025
- The Sun
We're terrorised by nightmare neighbours who brandish KNIVES and beat each other up – it's like living in a soap
A MUM is "living in fear" for her family's safety because of nightmare neighbours who she has seen brandish knives and beat each other up. Jenna Moffat from Dalkeith, Scotland, even captured footage of locals engaging in violence - with one clip showing a physical attack in her building's stairwell. 3 3 3 The mum has reported numerous of these violence incidents, as well as ones of drug use and animal neglect, in recent years but says her landlord Melville Housing Association "won't address" them. Shocking video footage captured in the last week shows one man brandishing a knife close to Jenna's property whilst trying to enter a flat. But despite police being called "numerous times" to reports of violence involving a tenant in her block of flats, a housing officer advised they would "need to get all their ducks in a row" before any action could be taken. Frustrated, Jenna has even compared her experience to "living in a soap opera", saying the situation has been "ongoing" ever since she moved in four years ago. The mum added: "[It has] gradually gotten worse. "It's horrible because you don't know what you're going to walk out to." She explained how there have been times where she and her family had gone downstairs only to find people "sitting, taking drugs or people fighting in the stairwell". Jenna continued: "This is causing significant fear and alarm to me and my family - I'm now getting antidepressants and anxiety medication due to the stress and everything that's going on. "I don't really sleep because I'm so anxious - the buzzer goes constantly throughout the day and night and people scream and shout at the door every single day to get in." Jenna, who lives around eight miles south-east of Edinburgh, said local drug users also frequently come to her building, leading to regular antisocial behaviour in the area. How lethal £1 'jungle pills' that cause monkey hallucinations have ravaged UK town where 'zombies' pass out in bus lanes The mum added that she was not alone in her fears, with neighbours also sharing their worries with her - saying they avoid going downstairs out of a fear of being attacked. She said: "The reason I moved to this flat was because I was fleeing domestic violence and what's going on is very, very triggering. "When I told my housing officer this, they didn't seem to care. "I've been asking to get moved for the last three years but I'm told they need more evidence before anything can be done. "I said how much more do you need me to complain about him and give you evidence?" 'I'M JUST GETTING NOWHERE WITH THEM' Jenna has not just sent videos and pictures but even voice notes "every time something happens". Despite this, Jenna says she is told "they don't have enough evidence to remove him from the property". She believes the man has "broken his contract numerous times", adding she couldn't understand why he had not been removed from the area. Jenna continued: "I'm just getting nowhere with them. "They also said I need to put in for an exchange, but I told them no one is going to exchange with me - everybody in Midlothian knows the person and know the sort of thing that goes on." A Melville Housing Association spokesperson said: "Due to tenant confidentiality, we are unable to comment on individual cases. "We can confirm that we take all reports of antisocial behaviour and criminal activity seriously and are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our tenants. "Where incidents are reported to us, we work closely with partners including the police to respond appropriately within the scope of our powers as a landlord."
Daily Record
26-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Record
Ex-Rangers owner Sir David Murray says losing legs after horror crash inspired life of courage
Murray was left fighting for his life when a tyre blowout sent his high-powered sports car careering off the road. March 13, 1976 - little did he know it but Sir David Murray was speeding towards a crossroads. Driving home having just played in a rugby match on the outskirts of Edinburgh, the then 24-year-old future Rangers owner would be left fighting for his life when a tyre blowout sent his high-powered sports car careering off the road and into a tree. The burgeoning metals tycoon was able to be cut free from the devastated wreckage but the damage inflicted upon his mangled lower limbs gave surgeons no other option but to amputate his legs below the knee. In the days after as he began a gruelling recovery process, Murray realised he had only two directions in which to turn. He could point himself down a path of self-pity and despair. Or he could steer himself along a more productive and determined road, one where he would not allow his life-changing injuries to define him as a person nor a businessman. Now 50 years on, Sir David has opened up on the thoughts and emotions that inspired him to choose courage over resignation. And the four words that he chose to rebuild his life around. While recovering in the hospital, Murray received a letter from hero pilot Douglas Bader who lost both of his legs in an air crash in the 1930s but recovered to fly missions for the RAF during World War two. Recalling the events of that fateful day, he writes in his new autobiography: 'On an overcast Saturday afternoon on March 13, I drove my then two-year old son David to Musselburgh after gently persuading him that a nice thing to do would be to buy a bunch of flowers for his mum, Louise. "It wasn't a special occasion but he was happy to go along. 'I dropped him off back at home in Longniddry, East Lothian, then drove the 10 miles to play stand-off for Dalkeith against North Berwick. 'I kicked three conversions in a 16-9 victory and then began to make my way home. ' The car – a purple Lotus Elite – had been serviced just 24 hours earlier and unbeknown to me at the time, the tyre pressures had been inflated to almost twice what they should have been. 'I also didn't put my seatbelt on – it wasn't a legal requirement back then. 'As I made my way along a dual carriageway near Longniddry, in East Lothian, the front left tyre suddenly blew. 'There was nothing I could have done. 'The car lurched to the side, I left the road and smashed headlong into a tree. 'Revisiting the scene much, much later, I realised that just a few yards before the tree and a few yards after it, there was nothing but open fields. 'How that tree is still standing I don't know, but remarkably it is. 'I recently stopped at the same spot again and nearly 50 years after the accident, there are still marks on the base of the tree. Equally amazingly, there are also still purple shards of the car's bodywork embedded in my upper leg. 'Memories of the exact moment are hazy. The vehicle was made of fibreglass and the impact forced the engine block right through the facia and into the driver and passenger seat. 'I was immediately shunted right through the door and lay unconscious and bleeding next to the wreckage. If I'd been wearing a seatbelt, I'd have been stuck in the car – things might have been much worse. 'A number of rugby supporters who had actually been at the game stopped their cars and raced to my side. There was lots of blood and they applied tourniquets with their ties to try to halt the flow. 'They somehow kept me alive and even though I can remember nothing about it, an ambulance was called and arrived quickly to take me 18 miles to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. 'That night, I lost 13 pints of blood and there was no option for surgeons but to immediately amputate parts of my mangled legs through the knees.' Murray made his fortunes in the metal game. At its peak, his company was turning over £350million and selling 450,000 tonnes of steel a year - equivalent to the materials needed to construct a dozen Forth Rail Bridges. But it was his own iron-clad resolve that proved to be his most valuable personal commodity as he battled back from his brush with fate. He adds: ' My wife Louise, of course, was frantic with worry yet somehow I'd managed to call her from a hospital payphone while lying on a trolley taking me back to the ward. 'I told her, 'You have to come. I'm in a bad way.' I have absolutely no recollection of this. "Louise, my family and friends took turns to sit by my bedside during the following days as I struggled to recover. 'The anaesthetist Ned Trench and a surgeon fought to give me a better chance of a partial recovery, but five days after the accident they were finally defeated after an infection set in. 'I ended up having a further nine inches of my legs removed. Following this I was finally transferred to the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital for 10 weeks of intensive care. 'I must have spent days and hours wondering how I might cope with the rest of my life. I was still a young man, with a wife and young family and I was passionate about business and playing sports. I just felt numb but then that letter arrived and it made me so determined to carry on. 'I admire your courage'… four words that have long had a bearing on so many aspects of my life. It became a blueprint. Four words that a doctor or a nurse at my bedside in the hospital might have been expected to utter and if they had, they might have been referring to the fact that I apparently had never cried. Not once. "The reason I have built so much of my life around those words is that they were conveyed to me – in a private letter – by a man who personified courage: Sir Douglas Bader. "Like millions of others I was only aware of him because of the 1956 British war film Reach For The Sky where Bader was played by Kenneth More. In 1976, at the age of 24, I had just lost both of my legs – in a car crash – and was lying in hospital, a bi-lateral amputee, when the nurse delivered the letter that would act as a motivation throughout the rest of my life.' Former Ibrox gaffer Graeme Souness describes Murray in the book as 'the most competitive human being I've ever met'. It was that defiant streak the millionaire, now 73, leant on as he was forced to to learn to walk again with the aid of prosthetic limbs. And that determination was key to his establishing a billion-pound business empire and footballing dynasty that would see Rangers dominate Scottish football in the 1990s. 'In life, I never try to look back,' he adds. 'We all have decisions to make – some of them big, reflective moments – and I am a great believer in the fact that you either turn left or you turn right. 'If anyone I know is ever in trouble or facing adversity, I always tell them that every problem has a solution and to always look ahead. 'Be decisive. Stay positive. I had no intention of quitting.' Preorder on Amazon HERE
ABC News
19-05-2025
- ABC News
Perth obstetrician accused of manslaughter of Elizabeth Pearce hit with more charges
The Perth obstetrician charged with manslaughter over the road death of Elizabeth Pearce in Dalkeith in February has been hit with further charges. Rhys Bellinge was allegedly behind the wheel of a high-powered sedan that struck a rideshare car on Birdwood Parade on Saturday February 15, with the crash claiming the life of 24-year-old Ms Pearce. He was allegedly speeding at 130 kilometres per hour, and police say he later returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.183. Now Dr Bellinge, who was denied bail at a bedside hearing in February, has been hit with four fresh charges, relating to the Sunday night before he is alleged to have killed Ms Pearce. Police allege that on February 9, Dr Bellinge exceeded the speed limit by more than 45 kph on three separate occasions — the first being at 8:05pm, when they say he travelled at 119 kph in a 70 kph zone on Thomas Street in Subiaco. Then, at about 8:10pm, he is alleged to have hit a speed of 112 kph in a 60 kph zone on Winthrop Avenue in Nedlands. Ten minutes later, according to police, Dr Bellinge travelled on the wrong side of the road in May Drive in Kings Park. Then police allege that about 8:30pm he travelled at 103 kph on Victoria Avenue in Dalkeith, a 50 kph zone. Officers from the Major Crash unit have charged the 45-year-old with three counts of exceeding the speed limit by more than 45 kph, and one count of dangerous driving. Dr Bellinge is due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on June 5.
