Latest news with #LeisureWorld
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Listed: The best places to play tennis in Essex for those inspired by Wimbledon
WITH the 2025 Wimbledon Championships coming to a close, it's the prime time for budding tennis players to pick up a racket. The whack and thunk of hitting a tennis ball is a sound like no other, and the crisp smell of a fresh pack of the iconic yellow balls is unmatched. The sport offers numerous health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, stronger bones, enhanced coordination and balance, weight management, and a positive effect on mental health. Whether you're a seasoned tennis player or a complete novice, we've listed some great local spots to pick up a racket across Essex. Play - Leisure World has spaces for several sporting activities (Image: Newsquest) Leisure World Tennis Centre, Colchester With six floodlit tarmac courts available to play tennis year round, visitors can pay for membership or hire by the hour. Both experienced players and beginners can enjoy the game, with racket hire available. Colchester Tennis Academy This academy offers a junior programme with an extensive range of groups for four to 18-year-olds. It was born out of a simple idea: 'To bring high quality, accessible and affordable tennis to the entire community'. Spring Lane Tennis Club, Colchester This club welcomes players of all standards to join and fosters a modern, friendly, and "non-elitist" atmosphere. The club encourages new members and novices to join them and offers group coaching as well as club sessions. Dedham Tennis Club Offering club sessions on Sunday mornings, this club a few miles north of Colchester has three all-weather tennis courts. It is a community club in the heart of a beautiful village green offering tennis for all. Support - Many clubs in Essex offer coaching and youth sessions (Image: Web)Braintree Lawn Tennis Club This club, based in Clockhouse Way, is the self-proclaimed home of friendly tennis in Braintree. Both adult and junior members can enjoy coaching, both in group sessions and individual lessons, as well as the social side of being part of a club. Gosfield Lawn Tennis Club Located about three miles north of Braintree, this club has four hard courts, two of which are floodlit. Offering coaching for all ages and abilities, the club enters mens, ladies and mixed teams in local leagues during the summer. Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens These two courts are in the heart of the public gardens and offer a tranquil and picturesque setting for a summer game of tennis. The courts can be booked online for £7 an hour and are open from 9am to 8pm from May through to August. Health - Tennis offers a variety of health benefits (Image: Web)Baker Tennis Academy, Witham This academy in Spinks Lane offers coaching for all ages and skill levels and 'fun whilst learning'. With games, drills, and a bit of competition, the team provides motivational, active and fun tennis coaching sessions to all. Wickham Bishops Tennis Club This club aims to create a positive and friendly environment where everyone feels welcome and inspired to improve their tennis skills. Members for the club in Great Totham Road can meet new people, have fun, and improve their tennis game together. Prested Real Tennis Club, Feering Based at Prested Hall, this popular wedding venue boasts Real Tennis (sometimes known as Royal Tennis), Padel Tennis, and lawn tennis courts. Real Tennis is an indoor racket sport originating from the Tudors, from which lawn tennis has evolved. Prested Hall has two of only 27 Real Tennis courts in the UK. Earls Colne Tennis Club Earls Colne Tennis Club is part of the Earls Colne Recreation Club. With four floodlit courts and a thriving mini and junior section, the club also offers family memberships for its members to play socially or competitively. Maldon Tennis Club The club in Park Drive is also run by Baker Tennis Academy and offers bookings for the courts in Promenade Park at £10 an hour for non-members. Members can enjoy unlimited court bookings at no extra cost. Scenic - Everyone can enjoy a game at Maldon Promenade Park's tennis courts (Image: Newsquest)Little Clacton Tennis Club Members at this club vary considerably in ages and aspirations, with several mixed-in sessions every week to meet other members. The club also offers coaching and fun and serious tournaments throughout the year. Clacton Leisure Centre Tennis courts are available to book at this leisure centre, for £13.65 per adult. Kirby Tennis Club This club in Halstead Road is located at Kirby Playing Fields with four recently refurbished outdoor hard courts, with floodlights available on three courts. The club encourages anyone in the area to come and try tennis.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
80-Year-Old Man Accused of Killing Wife With Hammer at 'Leisure World' Retirement Community
78-year-old Beverly Fletcher was found dead, having suffered stab wounds and possibly blunt force trauma Vivian Stewart Nation, 80, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with his wife's death The alleged incident occurred in the couple's apartment in a Maryland retirement communityAn 80-year-old Maryland man was arrested and charged with murdering his wife with a hammer at their retirement community. Beverly Fletcher, 78, was found dead with stab wounds and possible blunt force trauma inside her apartment at Leisure World, a retirement community in Maryland, the Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release. Her husband, Vivian Stewart Nation, was also located in the apartment and was subsequently charged with first-degree murder. According to charging documents reported by WTOP, WUSA and DC News Now, police said they found a bloody hammer and screwdriver at the scene. The reported documents alleged that Nation spoke to investigators and said that he and his wife had gotten in a fight over his doctor — which turned physical. The documents further allege that Fletcher fell on the ground and that Nation said he pushed the hammer against her throat. Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said, according to WUSA, that the couple had been married for 13 years."I'm sure it's a tough situation for both of these families," McCarthy said. "We're dealing with a gentleman who's been dealing with some cognitive challenges in recent years and this happens." It was not immediately clear if Nation has entered a plea. He is being represented by a public defender and undertook a cognitive evaluation this week. "This case is an obvious tragedy for all involved," public defender Sean Mukherjee said according to WUSA. "Mr. Nation has lived 80 years without any record of serious or violent crimes; something more is clearly going on here." Read the original article on People
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
80-year-old man accused of beating wife, 78, to death with a hammer after argument over his doctor
An 80-year-old man is behind bars after he allegedly killed his wife with a hammer inside their Maryland home. Vivian Stewart Nation was arrested on first-degree murder charges in the death of 78-year-old Beverly Rose Fletcher. Police responded to the couple's home at the Leisure World senior community in Montgomery County, Maryland, around 6 p.m. on Saturday to find Fletcher unresponsive. A hammer was still pressed against her neck and a bloodied knife and screwdriver were found nearby, according to court documents obtained by The Washington Post. Authorities said Fletcher had suffered multiple stab wounds and there were signs of blunt force trauma. Nation, who had blood on him at the scene, was taken in for questioning where he reportedly told detectives the couple had argued over an issue with his doctor before he pushed his wife to the ground. 'He then got on top of her and pushed a hammer against her throat, pressing the hammer down with both hands,' according to the court documents. Nation is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Washington Post
80-year-old accused of killing wife with hammer in fight about doctor
An 80-year-old man killed his wife by attacking her with a hammer inside their apartment at the Leisure World community north of Washington, authorities alleged in court new court filings. Vivian Stewart Nation is charged with first-degree murder in Saturday's death of Beverly Rose Fletcher, 78. Montgomery County Police called to the scene found the hammer still on Fletcher's neck and two other possible weapons — a knife and screwdriver with blood on them — in a room nearby, according to police.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lopez: In their golden years, this isn't the country they expected to be living in. So what now?
Montebello resident Rosa Maria Juarez, 96, doesn't like what's happening to the country, and in these tumultuous times, she has a strategy for getting through each day. 'I've always kept up with the news, but I don't want to watch it now,' Juarez said. 'I don't want to feel depressed … instead of happy, the way I am when I wake up.' Avoiding daily news of President Trump's attacks on the judiciary, the Constitution, the media, political enemies and foreign countries is but one part of Juarez's game plan for survival. She also stays on the move, driving to the Pico Rivera Senior Center several times weekly for early-morning exercise classes and outdoor walks of up to two miles. But she's not Superwoman, so it's impossible to shield herself completely from the daily barrage of bulletins from the nation's capital, where Trump said this week that he'd like to detain and deport U.S. citizens and have them locked up in foreign prisons. 'We're a country that's going down, like the Titanic,' Juarez said. 'I hope not, but what can we do?' For the most part, I heard that same sense of despair, along with rage and dread, when I reached out to more than a dozen people of a certain age and asked if this is a drama they expected to be witnessing in their golden years. Not at all, said Bernard Parks Sr., the former LAPD chief and fiscally conservative city councilman. 'I never thought in my lifetime I'd see a person with 34 felonies be elected president,' said Parks. 'The world is upside down.' On the other hand, in the eyes of some Trump supporters, the world was upside down until he flipped it around. 'I am extremely happy that the country is now headed in the right direction, even with the chaos and some hiccups,' said Norman Eagle, a Palos Verdes Estates resident who recently dropped me a note to argue that I overstated the risk of potential threats to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in a recent column. Eagle said he thinks Trump's tariffs — which have roiled world markets, sparked fears of a recession and triggered panic among even some of his own supporters — will work out to the country's benefit eventually. And he hopes the president's efforts to get rid of waste, fraud and corruption will serve as a model for future administrations. Read more: At Leisure World, they're up in arms, crying 'hands off' their Social Security 'Another important hope I have is that the insane woke ideology and extreme progressive thinking will completely disappear from the American scene and return home to Mars, where it likely originated,' Eagle added. La Cañada resident Trent Sanders, who frequently dings California's liberal politicos in emails to me and my colleagues, thinks Trump is generally on the right track three months into his term, but with a few caveats. 'I think most of what he's doing is the right thing, but far too fast, and far too much,' Sanders said. And with 'not enough thought before action.' Among Trump's detractors, there is no tolerance, and no end to the list of grievances, which include everything from dwindling retirement funds to Trump's embrace of Russia and his head-slapping claim that Ukraine started the war that has killed thousands. 'I am embarrassed for my country on so many levels,' said Estela Lopez, director of a downtown L.A. business improvement district. She lamented, among other things, the "gobsmacking" cruelty of wholesale job cuts in the federal government and the 'gutting of important medical research, vital public health information, and dismantling of protections that safeguard our food, air and water.' "The runway ahead of me may be shorter than the one behind me," Lopez said, "but I'd rather face it with every bit of intelligence and information available thanks to the scientific advances we have invested in and now seem to believe aren't needed." 'I never thought I'd be living through a constitutional crisis, but that's what this is,' said Jane Demian of Eagle Rock. She said democratic principles we took for granted — 'three co-equal branches of government,' for instance — are 'now being challenged by the MAGA mobsters, and the Republicans are hiding.' Read more: After the fires, starting from scratch in their 70s, 80s and 90s Jeffrey Mulqueen of Seal Beach has a name for all of this: 'The world has experienced fascism in the past and we are headed down that road in the USA,' said the retired school superintendent. 'Consider the patterns of the Trump regime as they lace society with fear, fuel the fear with false information," and threaten to expand the kingdom by conquering Canada and Greenland. Ernest Salomon of Santa Barbara, almost 90, said he and some of his immediate family escaped German death camps while other relatives perished. 'I see a lot of similarities between the Trump regime and what took place before Hitler took power. Fear, turmoil, racism, lies, retribution and more,' said Salomon. 'Democracy,' he added, 'is in peril.' 'I am wary and scared. Especially for our grandchildren,' said Jairo Angulo of West L.A., who harbors particular disdain for the coterie of Trump yes-men who won't admit "the emperor has no clothes," and for the millions of Democrats who sat out the last election. 'Selfishness, apathy and greed has propelled us to this point in time,' said Nick Patsaouras of Tarzana. 'We are witnessing what Plato said over 2,000 years ago: 'The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.'" Alice Lynn, of Pacific Palisades, said that while struggling with the limitations and loss that come with aging, she is now a witness to the trampling of ideals at the core of her existence. 'I have never felt so hopeless and fearful,' said Lynn. 'It is simply more than I can grasp. … All the issues I have fought for over the years, marched for, organized for — to bring about the good changes in our society — are now being unraveled.' Read more: Half a century ago, Californians saved the coast. Will Trump threats spark another uprising? Meg Fairless, of Simi Valley, fears for generations to come. 'Our first grandchild was born in March,' Fairless said, 'so I hope we, as a nation, can pull together, relearn the power of courtesy, respect, compromise, acceptance [and] be a country that will be safe and happy for him to grow up in.' Rosa Maria Juarez told me that as she approaches 100, she doesn't know if she'll see changes for the better in her lifetime, but she hopes her children and grandchildren will. 'I can do my part, even if it's just a smidgeon,' she said, telling me that if she sees anyone who appears isolated or marginalized, at her senior center or elsewhere, she makes a point of connecting with them. Denny Freidenrich of Laguna Beach has two grandchildren and a third on the way. 'That is why 20 of my friends and I are in the process of forming the Grandpa Brigade,' said Freidenrich, who is particularly worried about attacks on judges, lawyers and courts. 'By standing up for the rule of law now, our collective hope is we will be leaving our grandkids the greatest gift of all: freedom.' Kudos to Freidenrich and to Juarez for their good deeds. Meanwhile, in demonstrations across the country, crowds are growing. Tens of thousands attended a Los Angeles protest last weekend headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y), who then took their 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour to Coachella. Kudos to them, too, for re-energizing voters while so many forlorn Democratic leaders twiddle their thumbs and nurse the hangover of defeat. But can the left wing of the fractured party build enough support to make a difference in two years, or in four? A friend of mine who attended the L.A. rally said that while it was a rousing attack on current leadership, he didn't hear a coherent, winning plan to bring down the ruling party. So that's my next question, and I ask it not just of people in my age group, but of those coming up behind us: What's the best way forward? Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
