Latest news with #DanRoper
BBC News
22-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Goalball championship held in England for first time
A sports centre has made history by hosting the European Goalball Club Championships for the first event, which sees some of Europe's best goalball teams compete, is taking place at Oundle School Sports Centre in Northamptonshire from 21-23 February. This marks the first time the tournament has been held on British is a Paralympic sport designed for blind and partially sighted athletes. Players wearing blindfolds attempt to defend their net from a ball thrown at speed, guided only by the sound of bells inside it. Emma Roberts, 49, head coach of the Fen Tigers from Cambridgeshire, and tournament organiser, said: "It means everything [to host the event]. From a Fen Tigers perspective, it's great to host goalball in this country."We want to try and leave a legacy from this. We've got Paralympic gold medallists here and you can aspire to that." Goalball was originally developed in the 1940s to aid soldiers returning from war with eye injuries. It has been part of the Paralympic Games since 1976 with matches consisting of two 12-minute Tigers player Dan Roper, who is visually impaired, started playing the sport in after an 11-6 victory against Aarhus, the 34-year old said: "It means everything. We're just trying to promote the sport and show visually impaired athletes that goalball is exciting and competitive at a world level."Teammate Josh McEntee, 32, who lost his sight in a car accident but took up goalball six months later, added: "Goalball gave me focus, a purpose, something to strive for. There's nothing that measures up to it." Each team has three players on the court at one time and cheering, clapping, chanting is prohibited to allow players to listen for the ball. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
18-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Norfolk County Council set to cut homelessness spending by £2m
Concerns have been raised about plans by Norfolk County Council to cut support for homelessness services by £ Conservative-controlled authority is expected to approve a reduction in its annual spending of £4.7m, which provided accommodation to more than 1,100 people in the last financial the proposal, Liberal Democrat councillor Dan Roper said "bad things happen" to people when council leader Andrew Jamieson said district councils were overall responsible for homelessness and some were due to receive extra money through a second homes tax to help them out. A report for councillors said in 2023-24 there were 838 people accommodated by the county council's homelessness services, and 309 young people (aged 16-25) in funding was also used by other authorities to help people at risk of becoming homeless and to reduce rough sleeping in the council said it was looking to cut spending due to its overall budget gap of £44.75m for the next financial report said the savings could lead to a drop in the number of beds available or a reduction in the support people received in hostels. Challenging the plan at a meeting of the authority's scrutiny committee, Roper warned that less support for people could lead to more problems in the future, and any savings could be "a false economy"."Homelessness tends to come about because bad things have happened to people," he said."Bad things happen while they're homeless. And human distress and trauma create inevitable demand on our services of Norfolk County Council." Jamieson told him that homelessness services were not a legal obligation for the council and Norfolk's district authorities would receive money from a new council tax on second that deal, councils in Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and West Norfolk would share an additional £2.89m to spend on housing and homelessness services."We have to make savings, and some of those savings are not popular," he added."Obviously we seek to mitigate, wherever we can, the impact of the proposals."Councillors are expected to vote in favour of the saving at a meeting later, as well as an increase of 4.99% on council tax. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
