Latest news with #Kilbane
Irish Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
‘What am I doing with life?' - How Covid in Canada gave Kevin Kilbane the answer
Friday March 13, 2020: The date stamped on the outbound line of Kevin Kilbane's airline ticket. Little did he know that, for the next 18 months anyway, his flight to Toronto would be a one-way journey. Up to this point, there had been the outline of a plan: Kilbane, capped 110 times for Ireland, would eventually settle in Canada with his fiancée Brianne Delcourt. The pair had met a year earlier on ITV's Dancing On Ice. They would get married in Ireland. The date had been set. September 4 of that year. But the big move? That would happen a year or two down the line. And then, days after his trans-Atlantic trip, the whole world shut down. 'We've all got our story to tell from Covid,' says Kilbane, recalling his own remarkable tale. 'I'll never forget the date. I arrived in Canada on Friday the 13th of March. Toronto Airport closed down, I think, on the 14th or 15th. 'It basically shut the weekend after I arrived. Every airport across the world was closing down across the course of that week.' Suddenly, the former Preston, Everton and Sunderland man was trapped by the pandemic. For 18 months, he was unable to leave Canada. 'To get on a flight I had to get vaccinated,' replies Kilbane, 'but I couldn't get vaccinated because I wasn't a citizen here, I wasn't a resident. 'So I couldn't get the vaccine, which I needed to fly back.' Plans were moved forward. Kilbane and Brianne bought a house together, they got married in Canada, and Brianne, whose daughter Gracie was three at the time, fell pregnant. From feeling trapped, he soon came to realise that he had, in fact, been freed by this once-in-a-generation event. Life on the other side of the Atlantic had been spinning out of control. But unable to get a work permit in Canada, Kilbane was forced to take stock. 'I didn't get residency until about October 2021, so I was in the country for 18 months, and I wasn't allowed to work for well over a year,' he says. 'I was stuck, I couldn't fly back. It was over a year down the line and still wasn't able to get vaccinated. 'I couldn't get a doctor because I wasn't a resident, I couldn't get a health card here, and off the back of it I couldn't get a work permit. 'So I wasn't able to work until literally on the eve of the Euros, which were delayed because of Covid. I'm talking days; one or two days, June 2021. 'That's the first bit of (punditry) work I did over here (with Canadian TV channel, TSN). I was only able to get a work permit because I had to push certain things. 'Even off the back of that, I still didn't get residency until October or November, another few months after that. 'It was 18 months before I had residency and 15 months before I was able to work. 'During that time it was a nightmare in terms of, what am I going to do and how am I going to get work and what am I going to be able to do? 'I couldn't get work, I couldn't fly home, I couldn't do anything. It was just a crazy time for me. 'But it certainly helped me to settle down, it helped me almost to smell the roses in many respects. It definitely helped me to calm down a little bit and not go chasing stuff. 'Even when I was probably speaking to you over the years, you would have been like, Jesus Christ, you are everywhere. 'I was basing myself in Dublin at that time and I always felt that was where I was going to be, I was going to be in Ireland permanently. 'And if I needed to fly back to the UK or whatever, I'd get on a flight and go back. 'I felt like I was constantly at the BBC, I was in Manchester, I was in Dublin, I was doing the Virgin Media stuff, I was with the Off The Ball lads, and I constantly felt like I didn't have any time. 'I was constantly getting up at 4am to make a 5.30 flight, driving out of Kilmainham at whatever time. 'Then I bought my place in Castleknock and I felt like I was always racing to get on the M50, getting to the airport, running through the airport, getting on a flight, landing, working, flying back… 'I was sometimes doing that four times a week and I was like, what am I doing? 'Covid helped that. That's all I'll say. It calmed me down in so many ways. 'I just felt, where am I going? What am I doing with my life? Then everything took shape from there and I'm really thankful for everything. 'For me to be able to calm down was great, it was a great time for me.' Kilbane, with two daughters in their early-20s living in England, is now the proud stepdad to Gracie (8), and dad to Olivia (4) and Keavy (3). 'It was Covid that changed it,' he says. 'The reality was, once we hit May or June (2020); look, we're kind of stuck and we are going to have to make a decision on what we are going to do. 'We knew what we were going to do eventually, so it just kind of brought everything forward a year or two for us. 'So it was an amazing time. However we are all going to judge Covid, and we've all got our story to tell from it. But I have no regrets. Absolutely not. 'You asked me at the start if I was nervous, and I was probably nervous for different reasons. 'Obviously I didn't want to be leaving my daughters in England, but they were at an age where they could understand to an extent what was happening. 'I kind of knew where I was going. Whether it was a year or two ahead of where I thought it was going to be, then so be it, because it was going to happen anyway. 'And now I couldn't be happier. Life is as hectic as it ever has been. Keavy here has just turned three, Olivia was four in February, she starts school in September. 'It's just crazy to think of where we were and what's happening now. 'Our eight-year-old, Gracie, we are racing around with her, taking her to all sports. My middle daughter, Olivia, has soccer tonight, so we are taking her there. We're full-on. 'There's the lack of sleep, as any father and mother knows. Every single day you are tired. 'My wife Briana and I, crazy stuff! It's great. Now that I'm approaching 50, I think I should be at the stage where I'm a middle-aged man who's enjoying a bit of sleep now. 'But I love it and I couldn't have wished for things to have gone as well as they have done.'
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
VE Day 80th celebrations in North Yorkshire
Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day, is celebrated on 8 May to mark the moment the Allies formally accepted Germany's surrender in across North Yorkshire are being encouraged to join in the celebrations and commemorations, with York's City Walls lit in red, white and blue from Monday 5 until Thursday 8 Kilbane, executive member for economy and culture at City of York Council, said: "The end of the war in Europe is a moment to celebrate. It also reminds us of the sacrifices people made so that we can be free today. "So let's come together in our streets, communities and workplaces and mark this 80th anniversary." Scarborough service On 8 May, the Royal British Legion Scarborough branch will hold a service of prayers and wreath-laying in Alma Square from 11:00 BST. Cocktails and lunch On 10 May, there will be a cocktail reception and formal lunch at Middlethorpe Hall & Spa near York from 12:30 four-course meal will have a "Dig for Victory" theme, using produce from the venue's own gardens and local will be accompanied by live music from York's Celebration Singers. Military Wives concert St Wilfrid's Garrison Church in Strensall will be hosting a concert by York Railway Institute Band and the York Military Wives event, at 19:30 BST on 8 May, will feature old and new songs that evoke memories of 1945, concluding with a Last Night of the Proms-style are priced at £10 per adult and £5 per child. 'We'll Meet Again' Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington will hold celebrations on the weekend of 10 and 11 museum said its "We'll Meet Again" weekend would be its "big event of the year", featuring reenactors in 1940s dress, who will be giving demonstrations and talks, with vintage vehicles on show and tables and chairs set out for a street party. Proms and family fun On 8 May, Ripon Cathedral will be hosting a VE Day anniversary proms, with children from a local school giving readings. Tickets are £ City Council will host a free event in the market square from 18:00 to 21:30 BST, with live music, a climbing wall, vintage games and family friendly on Sunday 11 May, there will be a traditional parade through Ripon for the Installation of the new Mayor of Ripon at Ripon will also be a performance of stories of Yorkshire Normandy veterans, as told by Ripon Theatre Festival and the Ripon Community Poppy Project, at Lister House. Victory in Europe exhibition On 1 May, York Army Museum will launch its Remembering Victory in Europe exhibition showcasing regiments and the home front in will be live performances at 17:00 and 19:00 BST on 8 May telling the stories of two of York's Normandy 10 May the museum will host a dramatisation offering an insight into the lives of prisoners of war, and highlighting the ethnic diversity of the veteran community. Evensong commemorations On 8 May, York Minster will host a special Evensong commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day, starting at 17:30 BST. Knaresborough Castle On 8 May at 18:00 BST, Knaresborough Castle will host themed entertainment including performances from local musicians, bands and dance of the Knaresborough Branch of The Royal British Legion, Sea Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force and Air Training Corps will parade in the castle grounds and lead attendees to gather at the War Memorial for prayers of remembrance. Do you have memories of VE Day? Share your stories, email Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
25-03-2025
- BBC News
York Council approves donation points along city walls
Donation points will be installed on York's walls to encourage tourists to contribute to the city's maintenance costs. York Council approved the six-month trial at a meeting earlier and hoped it would raise enough to help pay for improvements to the structure. The plans include installing two "tap-to-donate" points at Bootham Bar which would ask visitors for single-figure Pete Kilbane, the authority's culture spokesman, said if 5% of the city's estimated 2.5 million visitors donated £5, it would raise about £625,000 and more than cover upkeep costs. "The city walls are not only the glory of York, they're one of the glories of England. They were built by the Romans so they're older than England," he said."This is about us handing these walls down to the next generation so they can be enjoyed by people in another 2,000 years' time."Kilbane said the council had to employ specialist stone masons to help maintain the walls - a cost faced by only a few well as the donation points, QR codes inviting people to donate online will be displayed, in addition to information about maintenance and conservation of the on the outcome of the trial, donation points could be installed elsewhere along the walls, with the running costs estimated at £5,000. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
