Latest news with #Whiley
Fashion United
09-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion United
Mothercare sales decline amid Middle East challenges, ends Boots distribution deal
Mothercare plc has issued a pre-close trading update for the 52-week period ending March 29, 2025 reporting unaudited retail sales of 231 million pound, an 18 percent decline from the previous year, primarily due to ongoing challenges in Middle Eastern markets. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately 3.5 million pounds, aligning with market expectations, but down from 6.9 million pounds in the prior year. Chairman Clive Whiley emphasized the company's resilience and ongoing discussions with potential strategic partners to restore growth and achieve core objectives. 'Our results for last year reflect the impact of the continuing uncertainty on our franchise partners' operations in the Middle East,' Whiley said. 'However, the de-leveraged business resulting from the recent India joint venture and refinancing, together with the ongoing support of our lender and pension trustees, is enabling us to continue to explore the full bandwidth of growth opportunities through connections with other businesses, the development of our branded product ranges and licensing within and beyond our existing perimeters,' he added. The reduction in sales is largely attributed to the persistent uncertainty affecting franchise partners in the Middle East, leading to a decrease in store numbers from 124 to 77 over the year. Additionally, the company is ending its exclusive distribution relationship with Boots in the UK by the end of 2025, aiming to explore new partnerships that better align with its brand strategy. Despite these challenges, Mothercare has managed to reduce its net borrowings to 3.7 million pounds, down from 14.7 million pounds the previous year, aided by a recent joint venture in India and refinancing efforts.
Telegraph
24-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Jo Whiley: ‘I've given up on growing veg – you cannot beat the slugs'
'Last year, the vegetables were a disaster. The slugs had the time of their lives,' says Jo Whiley, recalling every gardener's worst nightmare. 'Everything I planted got eaten. Snails went on the rampage, too. I'd come home from work and go out into the veg patch and see this black, oozy sea of mess. 'It was a particularly wet year, but I thought, 'I'm not giving in, I'll plant more runner beans, more peas, more lettuces, more strawberries, more of everything'. But I'd come back and find they'd decimated the place all over again. I never get stressed in the garden, but this really stressed me out.' The slimy little creatures clearly got under Whiley's skin. 'I had to find a solution,' she continues. 'I read books, did endless internet searches, quizzed gardeners. I even asked Monty Don! In the end, this is what I have learnt about slugs: you cannot beat them. There is nothing you can do. Nothing. They will always win, so you might as well just give in. 'After last year, I knew I had to make a change. There are a few veg that I will optimistically carry on growing, like potatoes and beetroot, plus a few herbs – hopefully the ones the slugs hate, like rosemary, thyme and mint. But my bigger plan of action is to turn over a lot of the veg patches to growing more cutting flowers instead. In the last few years, I started cutting a few roses to bring into the kitchen, but now I'm hoping to grow enough flowers to fill the whole house.' It's late afternoon and 59-year-old Whiley has been busy in the garden of her Northamptonshire home, digging, planting and watering all day. She is now relaxing on a large Oak & Rope bench she bought for the family earlier in the year. It hangs right beside the treehouse that she and her husband, Steve, built for their four children when they were small. 'The seat was a surprise,' explains Whiley. 'As soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it. I had all the children's names engraved on it, plus something that Steve says to us all the time: 'Live the Life You Love and Love the Life You Live.' It's become the family motto.' Having made her peace with the slugs, she's now in the middle of deciding which flowers she will grow, but it will definitely include the ones that never fail to make her happy. And first on her list is the sweet pea. 'They're one of my all-time favourites, particularly the brightest ones… those iridescent blues, dazzling pinks, mad oranges. I love that clash of colours,' she says. 'But more than that, it's a flower I'm very nostalgic about, because my grandad used to grow them. Whenever I see them, it brings back all these wonderful memories of being in the garden with him. He was such a big influence on me; it's where my love of gardening first started. Mum, too, has always had a passion for gardening, no doubt inherited from him. She used to run a village post office, and every year she'd grow sweet peas and dahlias to sell in it. It must have looked amazing.' Whiley admits she doesn't grow her sweet peas from seed; she goes to Coton Manor, near Guilsborough, where she buys quite a lot of her plants. 'It's an amazing house and garden, and they grow these spectacular sweet peas. There's a particular weekend when they bring them all out and you've got to get down there quickly, otherwise they'll all go.' She then uses large frames from Agriframes, which come complete with jute netting. 'Once I've got the sweet peas in the soil, I'm even tempted to plant a few fruit bushes around the edges; maybe I'll sneak in some raspberry plants.' One part of the garden she constantly keeps her eye on is the huge lawn. 'I'm quite a neat and tidy person, so I can't bear it when the lawn looks overgrown or patchy – quite hard when you've got two dogs and a cat,' she says. 'Not only that, but I'm also the sort of person who walks around the garden barefoot – I do my radio show barefoot – because I love feeling of the tiny blades of grass between my toes. With a house full of teenagers and twentysomethings, we're also a very loungey family, so once the summer arrives, the lawn is where we all socialise. 'Thankfully, we finally got round to installing a Gardena water system for the lawn. We also got one of those robot lawn mowers,' she adds with glee. 'It's a Kress model and it's fantastic. When we first bought it, I got home from work and Steve, who's obsessed with the lawn, said, 'You've got to come into the garden, I want to show you something'. There in front of us was a beautifully cut, stripey lawn. We'd never had that before. The only problem is that the robot has a habit of getting stuck in certain corners, so I'm always in and out, trying to disentangle it.' Having decided to spend less time growing veg, Whiley has also had the chance to focus on something else that has been bugging her for years: her deep borders. They run all the way down one side of the garden to a stream and a massive weeping willow. She's determined to get them right in time for summer. 'We've been living here for 16 years now, and I've never been completely happy with the way the plants in these borders were flowing into each other. So, this year, I've been doing lots of finessing, to make them what I've always dreamt they could be. I want to get the heights right, add structure and create some lovely drifts of colour,' she says, reeling off the names of some of her latest purchases – among them, Cephalaria gigantea, Verbena ' Lavender Spires', Achillea millefolium 'Salmon Beauty', Thalictrum ' Black Stockings', and Hydrangea aspera 'Hot Chocolate'. With so many garden projects on the go, Whiley knew she might need a bit of help, so she has called on her eldest son, Cassius. 'All the children have been incredibly reluctant to do anything in the garden,' she sighs, 'but Cassius, who's 24 and works in the music industry, needed some extra money, so earlier this year, I paid him to give me a hand weeding and mulching to get the ground ready. He was brilliant, and at the end of it he said to me: 'You know, Mum, I finally can see why people garden.' But the icing on the cake was on Mother's Day, when he handed me a card. In it, he'd written: 'Thanks, Mum, for teaching me how to garden.' 'I guess we're all starting to realise that being outside, putting our hands in soil, touching plants, watching things grow… even walking barefoot across the grass, is good for us,' she says. 'Life can be hectic at times, which is why the garden is somewhere I go to forget about it for a while. 'Only last week, I got home and automatically started moaning to Steve about something. Then I paused for a few moments and said… 'And this is why I garden'.'
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Yahoo
Teacher screened 'inappropriate' blackface film
A primary school teacher who accidentally showed a film clip containing blackface to a class of Year 5 pupils has been found to have behaved inappropriately. Grace Whiley played the video of an old Sinbad film during an English lesson at Bluebell Primary School in Norwich. The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel said she should have been aware of content considered unacceptable by modern standards. The Broads Horizon Education Trust (BHET), which runs the primary, said: "We do not tolerate racism or discrimination in any form." Blackface is a racist historical practice which involves people painting their faces in an attempt to resemble a black person, usually to mock them for the entertainment of white people and promote negative stereotypes. In January 2024, while children were studying Sinbad the Sailor, Ms Whiley played the clip because it showed Sinbad's dress and appearance, she told the panel. She claimed to have only previewed five minutes of the film clip before playing it and was not aware of there being any blackface in the part she saw. Ms Whiley stopped the clip when she noticed it and mentioned to the class that the film was "old fashioned and that sometimes things were shown differently now", the TRA heard. The panel found that although it was accidental, Ms Whiley should have ensured any video was appropriate for pupils. "She had not been sufficiently thorough in her checking," the TRA concluded. "The panel found that this constituted her behaving in an inappropriate way." In another incident in February 2024, Ms Whiley was accused of stating that Pupil B was "daddy's little princess and that's how Muslims are" and that Muslims "are entitled and think they are better than everyone else". The teacher denied using the words. She admitted she had said to another staff member: "I was surprised by her [Pupil B's] behaviour but thought it might be because she has been spoilt by her father because Islamic fathers sometimes do that." The TRA said it was "incumbent upon Ms Whiley in a school setting not to make any derogatory remarks about any individual pupil or parent, or group of pupils or parents, or to stereotype such persons in a negative way on the basis of their culture or cultural or religious heritage or presentation. "Teachers must ensure that they do not behave in a way that may lead to others to think that it was acceptable for teachers to hold views such as Ms Whiley had expressed or make remarks of the nature made by Ms Whiley." It found that she had behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way in relation to those allegations. Owen Jenkins, chief executive for BHET, said: "When concerns were raised... we acted swiftly and began an internal investigation. "However, we referred the matter to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), as we believed the concerns warranted further scrutiny, which has since upheld several allegations regarding the conduct. "We fully support the TRA's outcome of the process, and remain focused on creating safe, respectful environments in all our schools." It added the trust was "committed to diversity, inclusion, and ensuring all members of our community are treated with respect". Ms Whiley resigned from her job in March 2024 before the internal investigation concluded, but the panel said an order banning her from teaching was "not proportionate or in the public interest" because of her "remorse" and the "low risk that she would repeat the behaviour". Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. What is blackface? David Harewood says blackface is 'grotesque distortion of race' Golly doll pub landlords face no further action Uni takes student blackface disciplinary action Enid Blyton shop rapped over golliwog ad Bluebell Primary School Teacher Regulation Agency
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Teacher showed blackface film to class of nine and 10-year-olds
A primary school teacher who accidentally showed a film clip containing blackface to a class of pupils aged nine to 10 has been found to have behaved inappropriately. Grace Whiley played the video of an old Sinbad film during an English lesson for Year 5 pupils at Bluebell Primary School in Norwich. The Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) said she should have been aware that its content would be considered unacceptable by modern standards. Ms Whiley was also found to have said a pupil was 'daddy's little princess' and that Muslims 'are entitled and think they're better than everyone else' a month later. However, she was not banned from teaching, despite being found to have made 'inappropriate and derogatory remarks' and 'stereotyping people in a negative way on the basis of their culture or cultural or religious heritage or presentation'. In January 2024, while the Year 5 pupils were studying Sinbad the Sailor, Ms Whiley played the clip because it showed Sinbad's dress and appearance, she told the TRA panel. She claimed to have only previewed five minutes of the film clip before playing it and was not aware of there being any blackface in the part she saw. Ms Whiley stopped the clip when she noticed it and mentioned to the class that the film was 'old-fashioned and that sometimes things were shown differently'. The panel found that although it was accidental, Ms Whiley should have ensured that any video she used in her class teaching was appropriate for her pupils. It said: 'She had not been sufficiently thorough in her checking of the video and, in consequence, had exposed the Year 5 pupils in her class to the blackface film content. 'The panel found that this constituted her behaving in an inappropriate way.' In February 2024, Ms Whiley was accused of stating that Pupil B was 'daddy's little princess' and making the remarks about Muslims. The teacher denied using those words. She admitted that she had said to another staff member: 'I was surprised by her (Pupil B's) behaviour but thought it might be because she has been spoilt by her father because Islamic fathers sometimes do that.' Ms Whiley said there were no pupils present. The panel found that the remarks she made included 'daddy's little princess' and said words to the effect of 'that's how Muslims are', 'they are entitled' and 'they think they know better than anyone else'. It said that it was 'incumbent upon Ms Whiley as a teacher in a school setting not to make any derogatory remarks about any individual pupil or parent, or group of pupils or parents, or to stereotype such persons in a negative way on the basis of their culture or cultural or religious heritage or presentation'. The panel went on: 'In a school environment there was also the potential for remarks made near a classroom to be overheard by third parties, including pupils. 'Teacher must ensure that they do not behave in a way that may lead others to think that it was acceptable for teachers to hold views such as Ms Whiley had expressed or make remarks of the nature made by Ms Whiley.' It found that she had behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way in relation to those allegations. Accusations that Ms Whiley had referred to another pupil as a 'watermelon' in a classroom were not found to be proven. The panel said an order banning Ms Whiley from teaching was 'not proportionate or in the public interest' because of her 'remorse' and the 'low risk that she would repeat the behaviour'. Ms Whiley resigned from teaching in March 2024. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Telegraph
Teacher showed blackface film to class of nine and 10-year-olds
A primary school teacher who accidentally showed a film clip containing blackface to a class of pupils aged nine to 10 has been found to have behaved inappropriately. Grace Whiley played the video of an old Sinbad film during an English lesson for Year 5 pupils at Bluebell Primary School in Norwich. The Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) said she should have been aware that its content would be considered unacceptable by modern standards. Ms Whiley was also found to have said a pupil was 'daddy's little princess' and that Muslims 'are entitled and think they're better than everyone else' a month later. However, she was not banned from teaching, despite being found to have made 'inappropriate and derogatory remarks' and 'stereotyping people in a negative way on the basis of their culture or cultural or religious heritage or presentation'. In January 2024, while the Year 5 pupils were studying Sinbad the Sailor, Ms Whiley played the clip because it showed Sinbad's dress and appearance, she told the TRA panel. She claimed to have only previewed five minutes of the film clip before playing it and was not aware of there being any blackface in the part she saw. Ms Whiley stopped the clip when she noticed it and mentioned to the class that the film was 'old-fashioned and that sometimes things were shown differently'. The panel found that although it was accidental, Ms Whiley should have ensured that any video she used in her class teaching was appropriate for her pupils. It said: 'She had not been sufficiently thorough in her checking of the video and, in consequence, had exposed the Year 5 pupils in her class to the blackface film content. 'The panel found that this constituted her behaving in an inappropriate way.' In February 2024, Ms Whiley was accused of stating that Pupil B was 'daddy's little princess' and making the remarks about Muslims. The teacher denied using those words. She admitted that she had said to another staff member: 'I was surprised by her (Pupil B's) behaviour but thought it might be because she has been spoilt by her father because Islamic fathers sometimes do that.' Ms Whiley said there were no pupils present. The panel found that the remarks she made included 'daddy's little princess' and said words to the effect of 'that's how Muslims are', 'they are entitled' and 'they think they know better than anyone else'. It said that it was 'incumbent upon Ms Whiley as a teacher in a school setting not to make any derogatory remarks about any individual pupil or parent, or group of pupils or parents, or to stereotype such persons in a negative way on the basis of their culture or cultural or religious heritage or presentation'. The panel went on: 'In a school environment there was also the potential for remarks made near a classroom to be overheard by third parties, including pupils. 'Teacher must ensure that they do not behave in a way that may lead others to think that it was acceptable for teachers to hold views such as Ms Whiley had expressed or make remarks of the nature made by Ms Whiley.' It found that she had behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way in relation to those allegations. Accusations that Ms Whiley had referred to another pupil as a 'watermelon' in a classroom were not found to be proven. The panel said an order banning Ms Whiley from teaching was 'not proportionate or in the public interest' because of her 'remorse' and the 'low risk that she would repeat the behaviour'. Ms Whiley resigned from teaching in March 2024.
