Latest news with #Newtownards
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sport
- Sunday World
Rhys McClenaghan vows to reclaim spot as ‘best in the world' after surgery
The County Down man has been suffering from a shoulder problem for the past year. Olympic pommel horse champion Rhys McClenaghan has promised to reclaim his spot as 'the best in the world' after going under the knife. The County Down native has not competed since striking gold in Paris last year, with a shoulder problem hampering his progress. The injury forced him to miss May's European Championships in Germany and is likely to rule the 25 year-old out of October's World Championships in Indonesia. Newtownards gymnast Rhys McClenaghan News in 90 Seconds - July 26th McClenaghan will be determined to return in time for next year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he hopes to represented Northern Ireland for a third time. The Irish Olympian said: 'I've been struggling with this injury for a while now, so I'm delighted that everything went to plan with the operation and I can make my way back to maintaining my spot as the best in the world at what I do. "This is the reality of sport, and I love all of the challenges it throws my way. Champion Mindset." Following his success at last year's Olympic Games in Paris, McClenaghan won RTÉ's Dancing with the Stars.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- BBC News
Newtownards: Peter Kelly dies in single vehicle crash
A man has died after the scrambler bike he was riding crashed in Newtownards, County Kelly, who was 34, was killed in the single-vehicle collision which happened at about 19:25 BST on Monday on the Comber Kelly, who was from the Newtownards area, died as a result of his injuries, police Comber Road was closed after the crash but has now reopened. Police appealed for anyone who witnessed the collision or who has dashcam footage to come is the second death on the roads in the area in recent Sunday, motorcyclist Philip McClelland was riding a bike that crashed on the Portaferry Road in the McClelland, who was 36 and from Newtownards, died at the scene.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- BBC News
Newtownards: Philip McClelland dies in motorcycle crash
A motorcyclist has died following a crash in Newtownards, County McClelland was riding a bike that crashed on the Portaferry Road on Sunday afternoon. The single-vehicle collision was reported to police shortly before 13:15 BST. Mr McClelland, who was 36 and from Newtownards, died at the scene. The road was closed for a number of hours but has since reopened to Cherith Adair of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI's) Collision Investigation Unit appealed to witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to contact officers.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
NI education: 'Native' language assistants valuable for schools
For more than 30 years a school in Northern Ireland has been bringing modern languages to life by welcoming native speakers into its assistants have used their "native input" to enrich French, German and Spanish classes at Regent House School in the number of language assistants across Northern Ireland has decreased over the past 15 years - new figures have shown a assistants have proved a success at the County Down school with pupils saying their assistant is "brilliant" and helpful". Diellza Berisha, from Zurich in Switzerland, is a German language assistant at three schools in Northern arrived in Northern Ireland in September 2024 and is working abroad as part of her studies towards a master's degree in education."The whole experience has been very valuable, I would say, not just for teaching but in general life because I learned to be independent, I learned to adapt to a new culture," she said"Working at three different schools actually gave me a lot of different little challenges but at some point I think I just learned how to deal with them."I had to get to know them a bit and know how much can I ask from them, and then at some point I realised: 'Ok maybe with that group I need to help them a little bit more, with that group I'm free I can just speak German the whole time and they're going to be fine." Regent House student Julia, who studies German for A-level, said it was great having Ms Berisha at the school."I suppose a lot of concerns people have around studying languages is speaking with native language speakers," she said Ms Berisha had helped with preparation for oral exams by providing a "native input"."Just developing the confidence to be able to speak and not have to think and prepare an answer before you speak it, having the confidence to go in and say something, and if you make a mistake it's ok, you can learn from it," she said. Her schoolmate Hannah followed in the footsteps of her siblings in choosing to study German."Both my brother and sister did German, and my sister is still doing German, it's just good to be able to come home and speak to them sometimes," she said. Hannah added that learning with a native speaker had been very helpful. How many language assistants are in NI? In the 2024-25 academic year there were 34 language assistants in Northern was is an increase from 19 in 2021-22, but lower than previous 2019-20, there were 49 language assistants and in 2011-12 there were British Council, a charity which works to promote the English language and cultural relationships between the UK and other countries said it expected the current number of language assistants to increase as 37 schools in following the impact of Covid-19, schools sharing a language assistant and flexible placement options contributed to the rise, it uptake could be affected by rising costs, language priorities within schools and the level of student interest in languages. Head of modern languages at Regent House School, Gavin Nicholl, said the pupils were excited to "show off their skills to someone from the country"."There's really nothing more rewarding, I suppose, for them to speak the language and get a response instantaneously," he Nicholl said it was quite "intricate" to set up the process of sharing a language assistant with other schools but he found it ran really smoothly. What is a language assistant? A language assistant works alongside teachers to support language learning in mainly secondary Northern Ireland, language assistants help with French, Spanish, German, Irish, Italian and Mandarin spend between six to 12 months supporting students, with many arriving through the British British Council also sends UK-based assistants overseas to teach Northern Ireland, the programme is supported by the Department of a school decides to hire an assistant, the school is responsible for paying their salary. Esther McKnight from the British Council Language Assistance programme said assistants were an "incredibly valuable resource for schools and for pupils".She said the increase in the past year was "incredibly encouraging" and showed schools were committed to modern languages and that the council was making efforts to make the programme more accessible for schools.
BreakingNews.ie
26-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
'Viable device' discovered inside home in Co Down
A viable device has been found at a residential property in Newtownards, Co Down. Nearby homes in the Linden Place area, close to the town centre, were evacuated on Wednesday night during the security operation. Advertisement A police spokesperson issued an appeal for information. They said officers received a report of a suspicious object inside the address at around 5.25pm on Wednesday. 'Officers attended the scene together with ammunition technical officers, and examined the device, which was discovered to be viable,' they said. 'A number of neighbouring properties were evacuated, as inquiries were conducted, and the device was secured and taken away for further examination. Advertisement 'Residents were allowed to return to their homes shortly after midnight today, (Thursday). 'Our inquiries are ongoing this morning, and we would appeal to anyone with any information which might assist us to contact 101, quoting reference number 1243 of 25/06/25.' Ards and North Down Deputy Mayor Vicky Moore condemned those responsible as having 'shown a flagrant disregard for life' with their actions. 'This was a downright sinister display of intimidation and the local community is united today in shock and horror,' she said. Advertisement 'It shows a flagrant disregard for human life and public safety, both for those who live at the house where the device was found, and those in nearby properties who had to be evacuated. 'We can only be thankful, due in no small part to the swift and professional work of local PSNI, that nobody was killed or seriously injured, and I want to thank officers for their efforts. 'Those responsible for such reprehensible actions do not represent us, and I would encourage anyone who has any information that may help bring them to justice to contact police or report it anonymously via Crimestoppers without delay.'
