Latest news with #DavidMoody
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Gas lamps still burn in unique area of England
It is almost 200 years since they were originally installed, but the gas lamps in a unique area of England are still Park in Nottingham is thought to be the largest residential estate to still use this traditional Gas has now taken over the care of the lamps and residents hope this will preserve them for years to Liesche, who chairs the Nottingham Park Estate board and also lives there, said residents were "very proud" to still have this atmospheric type of lighting. "It just enhances the character of the estate," he said. "A lot of what we see in the estate is the very traditional, original construction, and it would have been illuminated all those years ago in very much the same way."It's a very quiet area to live, and of course the lighting gives that real characteristic of almost being in the countryside, despite being only a stone's throw from the city centre."David Moody, operational heritage manager for British Gas, said "it was a massive boost" to be asked to take over the gas lamps."We've looked after the lamps in London for over 200 years, since they were first put in, so it's a privilege and an honour to be asked to take over Nottingham Park Estate," he added."The gas lamps were the start of the gas industry, and that's where British Gas evolved from, from the Gas Light and Coke Company." Walking around the Park Estate feels like going back in time. Apart from the modern cars, much of it still looks as it would have done when the houses were private residential estate is situated to the west of Nottingham Castle and was formerly its deer the first parcels of land began to be sold off in about 1800-1810 and homes were built from about 1830 onwards."The gas lighting, which is one of the largest networks in the UK and Europe, followed shortly afterwards," said Mr Liesche."So originally they would have been installed for horses and carriages."When the Park Estate was first created there were no cars, so it would have been horse-drawn carriages being pulled around the estate and the gas lighting was a means to allow them to navigate the area." While the horses and carriages have long gone, the gas lamps have estate's 3,000 residents - who have a say over how the area is run - feel it is important to preserve the historic lighting."There was a period when the gas lights were neglected in the 1970s, and prior to that as well, and there was a very positive drive to try to reinstate them and bring them back to their original use and beauty," said Mr he said the lighting was not just there to look nice."One purpose is to make sure that the streets are appropriately illuminated, so that it's safe to walk around The Park," he said."What we want to do, without compromising anybody's safety, is make sure that The Park remains illuminated through its traditional means." Mr Moody said most of the UK's gas lamps were in London, but Nottingham was unique."Nottingham has got the largest residential estate that we're aware of, with 237," he said."There's some at the Black Country Living Museum, there's some in York around the cathedral, we've got some in Oldham we look after, a little estate in Norwich we look after."There's loads of little pockets everywhere. Europe's still got quite a lot; there are hundreds of them in Prague all around the main square, and Berlin."Some of London's gas lamps have been under threat in recent years, as Westminster Council drew up plans to convert them to electric a group called the London Gasketeers has been campaigning to save them, and some have received Grade II-listed Moody said that while some people worry about the carbon footprint of gas lamps, light pollution from electric street lighting has been found to harm wildlife."We work really closely with Royal Parks down in London, and they have said since the London [gas] lamps have been brought back to how good they are now, they've seen an increase in bats and moths," he said. Mr Moody said about 100 of the Nottingham gas lamps were still the originals."A lot of these lamps will be from the 1800s, and the others were later on, so 1900s up to 1950s they were still installing them," he what does caring for the lamps involve?Mr Moody said they need regular servicing, as well as cleaning and repairing."The biggest threat for us is people knocking them over; lorries driving round that knock them over," he said. "It's quite common in London for us to lose a lamp." Ryan Stanton, a technical repair engineer for British Gas, has been trained to repair and maintain the Nottingham lamps."It's a new qualification I've had to do, and I've had some on-site training with some of the lamp lighters that have come up from London," he said."I visit the estate a couple of times a week and during that time the on-site team will report any issues."I will go round and resolve those issues, and if there's no issues then I'll just do a service on the lights and make sure they're all in good working order."Mr Moody believes the lamps are in safe hands for the future."Heritage is my job and we want to keep our history going," he said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The different ways you can help foster children
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) —May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, which has local organizations doing what they can to stress the importance of foster parents. More than 1,200 children are in foster care in South Dakota each year. 'These are kids that are dealing with circumstances that are well beyond their control. And in order to have a healthy community, a strong community, it's important. It's critical to make sure that those kids have the same opportunities that everybody else does,' Executive Director, The Foster Network, David Moody said. Former deputy sheriff charged with rape after standoff Becoming a foster parent is one of the most obvious ways to help. Without foster families, children don't have many options. 'They can go to shelters. And so there are a few youth shelters here in the state. And so those youth are homeless. They stay in DSS offices, with caseworkers. Not always is it their own caseworker, so it could just be somebody that they don't know in a DSS office and then hotels,' Children's Home Society, Community Health Worker Team Lead, Jenica Woods said. Children's Home Society offers Therapeutic Foster Care services for foster children and their foster families. 'So we provide 24/7 support to the child and to the family. And then, we provide therapeutic services. So the therapy is in-house. That's individual and family therapy,' Woods said. If you can't become a foster family, at The Foster Network, there are also volunteer opportunities. One thing volunteers help with is 'The Closet', but there are also other ways to help out. 'So, depending on what their interest is, they can absolutely contact us, find out what meets with their schedule, with their expectations, what's meaningful to them. And we will provide those opportunities if they want to assist here,' Moody said. It's a way to help some of South Dakota's most vulnerable children by giving them the stability and safety that they need. 'Because they are just kids that are in a system no fault of their own,' Woods said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
