Latest news with #Maurice
DW
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- DW
Thinking outside the tank! The intelligence of fish – DW – 07/22/2025
07/22/2025 July 22, 2025 Are fish really dumb, mute and unable to feel anything? Or is that just what people think? In recent years, scientists have been discovering more and more about the characteristics and abilities of these aquatic creatures. Fish are generally regarded as mute, expressionless creatures without memory, feelings or even a sense of pain. In reality, however, they apparently have a lively social life, great adaptability and genuine emotions. 'Thinking Outside the Tank! The Intelligence of Fish ' is a humorous and educational journey of discovery through the wondrous world of water, from the goldfish bowl in the living room to exotic coral reefs and the turquoise lagoons of Moorea, an island in French Polynesia. The documentary also scrutinizes the relationship humans have with animals' intelligence, in general. Accompanied by goldfish Maurice, the film takes a deep dive into the colorful underwater world and explores what forms of intelligence may be hidden behind fins, scales and gills. From the smallest stream to the largest ocean, in aquariums and laboratories around the world, scientists are proving that fish are anything but limited. For several years, researchers have been trying to understand what goes on in the minds of aquatic creatures. And the latest discoveries exceed all expectations. The documentary presents these astonishing findings and illustrates how fish perceive the world, communicate with each other and interact with their environment. What does goldfish Maurice see? How does he react to touch? Does he have a sense of smell? Is he able to adapt to his environment, use tools and perhaps even feel emotions? Scientists in Portugal, Polynesia, Britain and Corsica provide answers to these exciting questions. The documentary's animal protagonists include the empathetic zebrafish, the cichlid that fulfils its marital duties, the cleaner wrasse that recognizes itself in the mirror, the goldfish that can remember complex sequences for months and classify pieces of music according to genre, and the clever archerfish that can distinguish around 40 human faces. Who can doubt the intelligence of these fish?
The Spinoff
21-07-2025
- General
- The Spinoff
The Third Age: ‘I think I've got the balance right – it's good for me to keep busy'
The Third Age shines a light on interesting folks over 65. Today, 78-year-old volunteer extraordinaire Garry Wolfgram. Many years ago, teachers had to lock their classroom doors because there was one 'little fella' who wanted to escape back to the farm. The young Garry Wolfgram preferred spending his days in paddocks. Garry went on to become a teacher for 'years and years', then a principal, before eventually working for the Ministry of Education. He's retired now, though his daughter says his volunteering duties are like having three part-time jobs. Just over a year ago he moved with his wife Lana from their house in Whangārei to Summerset Milldale. Their brand new home with windows overlooking Waterloo Creek is where I met them. After a long, warm conversation over coffee, Garry zoomed me around the streets of their retirement village in Millie, the golf cart. Why did you move from Whangārei? I must admit, I was reluctant. I had a lot going for me up north. We were going to buy a house down here, and then thought, well, we're going to end up in a retirement village sooner or later, so we decided to go for it. It's been a great decision because it's a lot easier for us to support my daughter, who is a high-flyer, see the other kids and do what we can down here. We have 15 grandchildren between us, many around Auckland, and we wanted to see them as much as possible. What did you have going on up north? I was a volunteer for the hospice for five years with a wonderful, very good friend of mine, Maurice. We delivered hospital beds throughout the north – from Kaiwaka to Whangārei. What do you mean by 'delivering beds'? Maurice and I would take the big medical beds, break them into parts, put them into a van, then put them in their home. We delivered beds to all sorts of different people – some young, some old. The patients' families were always very grateful for the service provided. I learned a heck of a lot from that. We went in at what I call 'the hard end'. It was difficult at times. Maurice and I would travel around in the van and solve the problems of the world [laughs]. It was good to have two of us, because, well, it's quite a confronting experience. Due to the fact that there was a bit of heavy lifting, both of us decided to stop. What did you do next? I was a handyman for the Pacific Support Group in Whangārei. Lana was the principal at a school, they offered me a job, but I preferred to volunteer. So I coached rugby, touch rugby and supported school activities like sports days, camps and field trips. Eventually I saw that St Johns was looking for volunteers in the emergency department at Whangārei hospital. So I thought I'll try that. I learned what it's like to be in an accident and emergency department and help people. Your task is to engage with people appropriately – not everyone wants to hear a joke. I did that for three years, and then the team leader left, so I picked up the leadership. What volunteering are you doing now? Now I'm a member of the St John Hibiscus Coast and have taken on a property manager type role. I look after the maintenance of the hall and the ambulance station. If there's a problem, I organise the repair. I'm also a Caring Caller for St John. I've been allocated two clients, who I've been calling for just over a year. I don't know their second names and they don't know my number. I just ring up, say hello. It takes time and patience and at first people can be really shy. They can't see your face and sometimes you can tell by their voices that they're a bit nervous. As the relationship formed, my clients now yak away about everything, and I enjoy that. It makes me feel good at the end of it. I call them about once a week, or sometimes more if something is going on. I am also involved with Community Patrol. It is a volunteer service that involves working with the Police, patrolling the streets and sharing safety in the community and reaching out to Police when required. It seems like you're very busy. I think I've got the balance right. It's good for me to keep busy and occupied, keeping my mind active and alert and learning new things. My grandson, Josh, loves cars. I send him photos of my models, and he just loves it. With all I do, I love to engage with many age groups and cover many topics. Is there anything that's surprised you about living here? One of the things we like about living at Summerset is that we have retained our independence. The village is supportive of us enjoying what we love to do – for me, family and volunteering is very important. The people here make it easy and enjoyable. They encourage you and ask how you're doing. It gives you opportunities for doing stuff when you're a tired old devil [laughs]. You know, I like my freedom, and when we got here, we were able to just be us. What surprised me too was meeting the people in the village. A lot of them have got a lot of different skills, they've got a lot of different things they can talk about. They have a bit of what I call depth, they're real and they're friendly. If I'm walking around with a plaster on they'll say, 'Oh Garry! What have you got yourself into this time?' What do you think is a big change that's happened in New Zealand since you were young? I was born in 1946 which meant I was a kid through the 50s. When we were kids, everybody was pretty much the same after the war – everybody was struggling. They didn't have a lot of money and most people were pretty much on the same level. I think the big thing that's changed is you've got all these people that are gathering all the money and other people are struggling to get it. It is real, there's a lot of stats to tell you about it. That's the biggest thing I think has changed since I was a kid. Is there something that has surprised you as you've gotten older? I'm surprised at how well I am and how my mind's still ticking over. Lana tells me not to be competitive, but sometimes I reckon I've got as much going for me as a lot of young people! It surprised me to get to this age and be like I am – a lot of my mates have gone, or started to go, some earlier, some later. Being retired provides opportunities to strengthen parts of yourself – to get better at things and learn new things. I like to always try and improve. Not in big bites, but in little steps.
Irish Independent
17-07-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Blasket Islands' oldest living inhabitant, Máiréad, dies aged 102 in Massachusetts
Máiréad turned 102 last December and was the oldest of three surviving inhabitants of the famous Great Blasket Islands off the Kerry coast. When the Great Blaskets were evacuated in 1954, Mairéad's parents, Pats Tom and Nellí Jerry Kearney went to live in Gorta Dubha. Máiréad had moved to the mainland in the late 1940s before going to America in 1949 at the age of 26. At the time, the Nun's Convent in Baile 'n Fheirtéaraigh operated a knitting factory that employed young ladies from the locality. It was here that Máiréad and other young women earned and saved money to emigrate to the US. Paying tribute to Máiréad is her Gorta Dubha neighbour and US resident Maurice Brick. Maurice said people from the Blasket Island were at one with nature. Máiréad was in tune with this way of life and she often parted her advice to the youngsters of Gorta Dubha. When Maurice lived in New York he would regularly drive the two hour journey to western Massachusetts to meet and chat with Máiréad and the family. Even though he now lives in Chicago, he kept in touch with Máiréad over the years. 'Máiréad didn't tell us she was leaving for America all those years ago. Her sister, Hannah told us she had already left. We were shocked and not at all within ourselves for some time thereafter. I did meet Máiréad in Springfield many years after,' Maurice said. 'I would drive there often to meet with some of the other Blasket islanders who had settled there. I remember attending Sunday Mass there once and as I was leaving I spotted a group of men in conversation by the gate. As I neared, I could hear they were speaking Irish and of course I introduced myself in Irish and I was greeted with joy. "Any time I met Máiréad we talked about our time in Gorta Dubha and we laughed heartily as we recounted some of the shenanigans we were up to. Beannacht Dé Lena hAnam Uasal God Bless Her Noble Soul,' he said. In 2023, US Republican Congressman Richard Neal made a presentation to Máiréad at the Irish Cultural Centre of Western New England in honour of being the oldest surviving Blasket Islander.
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
There's nothing casual about how The Open arrives at any venue but Portrush is better prepared than most
I would pay good money to see how my late granny, a former Portrush bed and breakfast landlady, would react to the idea of paying up to £50,000 (€58,000) to stay for a week in her beloved Co Antrim seaside town. When the Open first casually rolled into Portrush in 1951, many of the top players found lodgings in boarding houses around the town. More than seven decades later the difference in the price of accommodation, prize money, spectator numbers and media coverage is inconceivable. In 1951, the total purse amounted to £1,700 (€1,970) with the winner receiving £300 (€350). Royal Portrush Golf club proudly announced the installation of 16 new telephones for the use of the press covering the event and the post office installed a mobile facility so that, over the three days of the tournament, the 7,000 spectators could send postcards from the course. They say home favourite, 1947 Open champion Fred Daly, slung his clubs over his shoulder and strolled each day from the family home on Causeway Street the short distance to the first tee on the Dunluce course. READ MORE As a 16-year-old, my father Maurice, now 89, gladly accepted a lift with a commercial traveller who was a guest in his mother's B&B in one of the few cars to be seen in the town in the early 1950s. They drove nonchalantly straight through the entrance gates and had their pick of parking spaces. Many years later, he confessed that on another day he and his friends sneaked in under the ropes without a ticket between them. Anne Marie and her father Maurice McAleese at Royal Portrush This year, as in 2019 when the Open last came to Portrush, we are taking no chances, and, much to his amusement, our tickets have been secured via the QR code on the app on my phone. I suspect that he also thinks that, as one of the few people who will have been to all three Opens held in Portrush, he shouldn't really need a ticket at all. In his debut professional tournament that summer of 1951 in Portrush, the late, great Peter Alliss recalled dancing at Barry's ballroom and swaying, not only to the music, but to the gentle swells of the Atlantic Ocean, merely a hop, skip and a twirl away. In 1951, Portrush was a bustling, fashionable holiday destination, which could already boast a long and successful relationship with the game of golf. More than five decades earlier, on a summer's evening in 1899, unsuspecting visitors to the popular resort would have noticed the centre of the town was unusually busy. Hundreds of people had gathered around the railway station to give a rapturous welcome to a teenage golfing sensation. As 17-year-old May Hezlett and her mother made their way towards the jubilant crowds, the sky above the resort's West Strand beach dazzled in a blaze of colour and the air was filled with the loud, crackling sound of fireworks, a celebration befitting the champion golfer that young Hezlett had, unassailably, just become. In back-to-back triumphs, she won the British Ladies Open Championship just two weeks after winning the Irish Ladies Open Championship. Both prestigious tournaments were played at the links course at Royal County Down. 'Miss May', as she was known, was the most accomplished of the four talented golfing Hezlett sisters. She was introduced to the game at the age of nine by her mother, also a skilled exponent of the relatively new sport. At just 11 years of age, she won her first competition using only a cleek, mashie and putter. Hezlett became the inaugural president of Royal Portrush Ladies in 1922, having been lady captain in 1905. She remained president until the Open was held for the first time at Royal Portrush in 1951. A portrait of her by artist Harry Douglas, commissioned by the club to celebrate her success, still hangs in the Portrush Ladies clubhouse. Seventeen-year-old May Hezlett caused a sensation in Portrush in 1899 when she arrived just won the British Ladies Open Championship and the Irish Ladies Open Championship back to back She died in the winter of 1978 at the age of 95. Little could she have known when she arrived on the platform of Portrush train station eight decades earlier that she would go on to carve her name in the annals of golfing history. As the Open returns for the third time to Royal Portrush, it's entirely fitting that the club recently unveiled an Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque in her honour, cementing her illustrious place in the history of the women's game. And how she would have relished the oldest and most prestigious golf tournament in the world returning to the scene of so many of her victories. She watched the Open when it was first played in Royal Portrush 74 years ago and, no doubt, in 2025 as in 2019, her spirit will be felt keenly by Royal Portrush Ladies watching proudly as the world's best golfers try to tame this mighty links. More than a century ago, behind many great golfing men, there was at least one even greater golfing woman. And so, it will be with a great sense of pride that I, along with my father, the three-time Portrush Open champion spectator, will find a place near the first tee on the first day of the 153rd Open on Thursday to cheer on the finest 21st century exponents of the game. As in 2019, there will be a collective hope among locals that a home-grown hero might just do it again. That smiling Shane Lowry, who has his own mural in Portrush now, might regain the claret jug and thrill the crowds as he did so magnificently six years ago on that rain-sodden Sunday when nothing could dampen his sprits or conquer his sheer talent. Rory McIlroy at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick this week during a pro-am before the Scottish Open. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Or could it be written in the stars that his great friend Rory McIlroy will see his name carved in silver for a second time and banish the ghosts of the missed cut in 2019 ? Darren Clarke is also sure of a euphoric reception as he strides down Hughie's 420-yard first fairway. Always popular with the crowd, he became the oldest Open champion since 1967 when he won by three shots at Royal St George's at the age of 42 in 2011. Darren Clarke, who is from Co Tyrone, won the Open in 2011. Photograph: Phil Inglis/Getty Absent from the field will be pride of the parish Graeme McDowell. With a total of 11 tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one Major championship, the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, the affection in which he is held in his hometown is undiminished . These days there's nothing casual about how the Open arrives at any venue. Preparations begin months in advance, the attendant infrastructure is vast and the impact on and off the course is felt long before and after the event. No matter the outcome, no matter the weather, for golfers and non-golfers, the fervent hope is that Open will once again triumph and for at least four days in July all amateurs will feel a bit triumphant as a result. Just don't take any chances on a car parking space. Anne Marie McAleese is a former BBC Radio Ulster presenter of Your Place And Mine and a keen golfer
Rhyl Journal
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Appleby eyeing Goodwood goal for Big Mojo
Mick Appleby's stable star bounced right back to his best at the weekend when he was just run out of it close home by 66-1 outsider No Half Measures. Big Mojo is now likely to revert to five furlongs at a track he won the Molecomb Stakes at last year before he heads to York for the Nunthorpe. 'He's come out of the race well. We were gutted but chuffed with how he ran, he ran an absolute blinder,' said Appleby. 'Tom (Marquand) thought he had everything covered, he just wasn't expecting that one to come from out there! 'He's shown he's back to his best and I think he saw the trip out, he just didn't see that one coming, when he did he tried to fight back and given a few more strides I think he'd have probably got back up. 'She wasn't pulling away from him and I just think he was caught a bit by surprise. 'I think it will more than likely be Goodwood next. There is a possibility of the Maurice de Gheest (at Deauville) but I think it's more likely we'll go to Goodwood and then on to York. 'You'd like to think he'd be hard to beat at Goodwood, he's won there before.'
