Latest news with #JuliaBuckley
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Direct rail service between Shropshire and London supported by PM
Plans for a new passenger rail service running direct trains between north Wales, the West Midlands and London have received support from the prime minister. A new open-access rail operator, called the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR), has been formed, offering passengers in Wrexham, as well as Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Walsall and Coleshill, a direct link with the in the Commons, Shrewsbury's Labour MP Julia Buckley asked Sir Keir Starmer if he would support the provider's prime minister responded, saying he would be "delighted to make sure the MP and other interested MPs meet with the rail minister to put their case forward". Proposals for the new operation from WSMR could see five trains per day running in each direction from Monday to Saturday, with four services running in both directions on a will stop at Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Telford Central, Wolverhampton, Darlaston, Walsall, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes on the route between Wrexham General and London route would bypass Birmingham by utilising a railway line only used for freight services, with trains running directly from Wolverhampton and Walsall to Nuneaton for the first time, a WSMR spokesperson said.A formal application to open the service was submitted to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on Thursday, they added.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Rural students' transport woes disrupt education
Rural sixth form students have complained a lack of public transport is threatening their education because getting to college is concerns have been raised after Julia Buckley, MP for Shrewsbury, discussed the issue in parliament and called for changes in funding rules to allow more rural colleges to offer travel a 17-year-old student from Welshpool, is one of 10,000 taking courses with the Shrewsbury Colleges Group and said she had considered dropping out because of unreliable student, George,17, from Craven Arms, said he was worried his grades would suffer because of difficulties getting to Shrewsbury. James Staniforth, Shrewsbury College Group principal, said he was seeing the number of students because his college offers both A-level and Further Education courses, it misses out on some government money available to colleges that offer one or the said this "anomaly" was especially a problem for rural institutions, which combined the two types of said that was because "smaller schools have closed down their sixth forms, leading to a centralisation in the county". Shrewsbury Colleges Group takes students from all over Shropshire, as well as Wales, Herefordshire and said trains from her home in Welshpool were often delayed or cancelled and as a result she had missed out on "quite a bit of learning"."I've considered dropping out of college because it's so hard to get in sometimes," she others in Welshpool she knows "have just given up on college" because of rural transport issues."I came to college to learn and it's hard not to be able to get in, to get higher education just because of transport," she said his trains from Craven Arms were also "quite unreliable" and he found he could not arrive to lessons on only alternative, he said, was "to arrive two or three hours early for an hour-and-a-half lesson". 'Poverty of opportunity' Buckley said there were "geographical barriers" for rural students aged 16 to 18, who face limited railway access while the number of bus services is in a result, she said there was "poverty of opportunity, where young people reduce their aspirations to match their transport options".Education minister Stephen Morgan, responded to questions raised during the parliamentary debate on rural promised the government would "ensure that everyone can access education and training opportunities".But he said local authorities had the statutory responsibility for providing transport to education and training establishments. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Yahoo
The thermal springs and ancient tombs of Bulgaria
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Around the town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria, a "vast plain" unfurls between two mountain ranges. It is known as the Rose Valley for its "pink-blooming" fields, but also as the Valley of the Thracian Kings, for its many ancient tombs. I found my recent trip there enchanting, says Julia Buckley in The Times, partly owing to the area's rich artistic and archaeological heritage – and partly thanks to the recent opening of its first luxury spa hotel. Built around one of the thermal springs for which the region is also known, the huge Kings' Valley resort offers "five- star" accommodation and treatments at "three-star prices". The combination of top-class pampering, art and ancient history makes for a wonderful break – and yet Kazanlak and its surroundings are still blessedly free of tourist crowds. Little is known about the Thracians, an ancient tribe who "fanned out west" from the Black Sea, and were admired by their neighbours, the Greeks, for their martial prowess. The thousand or so royal tombs around Kazanlak, believed to have doubled as temples, lie within grassy mounds that turn the "pancake- flat" plain into something resembling "Teletubbyland". Several dating from the 4th and 5th centuries BC are open to the public, including Golyama Kosmatka, which has carvings of Medusa and Helios, and Ostrusha, painted with mythological scenes and human faces. But most beautiful of all is the hilltop Kazanlak tomb, with frescoes of galloping horses, and of a man and woman reaching out "to hold hands across the void" – a depiction of "eternal love" nearly 2,400 years old. The town of Kazanlak itself is not pretty, in the way the Bulgarian "big hitters" of Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo are. But it is "bursting with culture", including a fine art gallery and a history museum, the Iskra, which houses "troves" of Thracian gold. And it's always a delight to return to the spa, where the menu includes both "relaxing woo woo" and medical consultation. I had "magnet-resonance therapy" – perhaps it was a placebo effect, but my arthritic knee was pain-free for months afterwards.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Yahoo
A wine-themed tour of beautiful Uruguay
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It might not have a Machu Picchu or an Iguazu Falls, but Uruguay is my favourite South American country, said Julia Buckley in The Times. A place where it's exceptionally easy for visitors to find "cat- in-the-Sun contentment", a trip here is less about "bucket-list sightseeing" and more about enjoying "bucket-list bliss". Uruguay has gentle, green landscapes and huge Atlantic beaches. Montevideo, its capital, is "simpler, daintier, less highly strung" than its giant neighbour, Buenos Aires. And it has beautiful resort towns, excellent restaurants, and – the focus of my latest visit – remarkable wineries. These are not as famous as Argentina's or Chile's, but they are quite as good, and several have attractive hotels, allowing for a "heavenly" wine-lovers' tour of the country. A good place to start is Bracco Bosca, 30 miles east of Montevideo along the vast Rio de la Plata estuary. Founded five generations ago by Italian immigrants, it produces "wonderful" wines from grapes including syrah and petit verdot. The "star of the show", however, is tannat, or Harriague. This "oddball" variety is usually blended with cabernets in France because its high tannin content makes it bitter – but in Uruguay, it yields "gutsy-but-elegant" reds, and has become the "national grape". In 2020, Bracco Bosca's owner built two "modernist" cabins among the vines – delightful places to stay, and from which to visit two new winery restaurants nearby, Cerro del Toro and Las Espinas (where the filet mignon is "worth the airfare alone"). Further along the Atlantic coast lies José Ignacio, an "upmarket" beach resort that is a "foodie heaven" (don't miss the tapas bar Solera; its owner has created a map of the country's wineries – see mapadelvinouruguay on Instagram). In the hills to the north, there's another "top-notch" winery restaurant, Viña Edén, and a great vineyard hotel, the Luz Culinary Wine Lodge – a "dreamy" place with eight rooms and a "baguette-slim" infinity pool. Journey Latin America has a 12-night trip from £3,853pp, excluding flights.
