Latest news with #bricks
BBC News
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The bricks connecting Coventry City football fans to their club
When Tom Kelly was born, his great-uncle bought him a an unusual birth present but instead, a personalised brick bought by his Coventry City FC mad relative in a wall at his beloved team's home football not alone - across the UK, thousands of football fans have sponsored bricks or paving stones at their team's stadiums, including at Sunderland's Stadium of Light and Celtic Park in Glasgow, as a way of celebrating special Coventry, 4,500 fans were given that chance with their bricks engraved on the Sky Blues Wall of Fame at the CBS Arena, then named the Ricoh, in August 2005. Why do it and what do these bricks mean to families and their fans? Several shared their stories with us: The brick to remember a great-uncle Tom Kelly, 20, from Finham, Coventry, is the man whose brick on the wall was bought for his birth by his great-uncle Dave, who died when he was young.A Sky Blues fan since he was a child, Mr Kelly said the brick gave him a reason to remember his late uncle, who used to take him and his dad to games when they were younger."Loads of fans knew him, loads around the club knew him, he'd be on every away-day travel coach, he'd be in and around the ground, so he purchased the brick for me before he passed away," he Mr Kelly, football goes beyond being a sport as it also give a chance for him to go and spend time with family and "random people"."I think some things in life aren't certain but being a Coventry City fan for the rest of my life certainly is," he said. The brick to let a father live on Kate Cooper's brick remembers her father - Paul Averns died in October 2006, after he was diagnosed with terminal was a "huge" Sky Blues fan, she said, and had been diagnosed around the time when the brick scheme at the arena was first announced."My brother brought him a brick," Ms Cooper, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, explained. "We weren't even sure if it was going to be in there in time for my dad to see it but it was, so it was put in there just before he passed away."Ms Cooper said her dad was tearful and emotional when he found out about the brick and appreciated he was going to live on through his club, his "favourite thing in the world".Mr Averns ashes were also scattered on the pitch."Towards the end of his life, he used to like going up there [the stadium], he was very proud of the fact he had a brick up there, it made him feel quite famous I think," Ms Cooper said."To me, I just feel like I'm part of a family and I'm really proud that that started with my dad and he's carrying on through the rest of us." The brick connecting a son to his dad Ian Lissaman's late dad was a carpenter who worked on some of the restoration of Coventry City's former ground, Highfield Road, in the 1960s, when the main stand was damaged in a fire.A lifelong Sky Blues fan, Mr Lissaman and his dad both have personalised bricks at the 53-year-old, from Stoke Aldermoor, said he always goes to visit the bricks every time he goes to the stadium."He died in 2003, so before the CBS was built, so I just felt it important that he was part of the journey and, you know, carried on his support of the Coventry City family," Mr Lissaman said."I wish he was here to see it for himself but knowing the bricks there is some comfort."The family's love for the the Sky Blues has surpassed generations, with Mr Lissaman's own granddaughter, Eva, 13, also "obsessed" with football.A massive Coventry fan, she has been watching the team play for the last four seasons and credits her granddad for her love of the club."He kind of just got me obsessed with football and I don't know what I'd do without my granddad at the football and everything," she said. The brick for a Canadian fan For Keith Reay, 61, his brick is all about reconnecting from far away as his love for the Sky Blues spans 40 years - and more than 4,000 from Coventry, the die-hard fan emigrated to Alberta, Canada, 22 years ago but still flies back to England to see his favourite team play a few times a year."Every year I buy a new shirt, new scarf...I had a season ticket for 25 years before I emigrated to Canada," he said."I get back whenever I can. These last few years I've been back two or three times a year and it's cost me an absolute fortune." Mr Reay has a brick after first falling in love with the Sky Blues when his father took him to see Coventry play Newcastle in said he still misses the city "incredibly" and had been back to visit his personalised brick after a fellow Coventry supporter on the internet discovered its location."He told me where it was, so the last two times I've been back, I made a point of looking out for my brick, found it, [had] my picture taken with it, and it's lovely," he added. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Fox News
08-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Bricks made from recycled coffee grounds reduce emissions and costs
Was it a coffee lover or hater who came up with this innovative idea? What if your morning coffee could help build the next generation of eco-friendly homes? That's exactly what researchers in Australia are doing: turning leftover coffee grounds into bricks. These bricks from recycled coffee grounds aren't just a quirky experiment. They're strong, sustainable, and could seriously cut down on construction emissions and costs. Here's how your daily brew is becoming the foundation for greener buildings. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide - free when you join my At Swinburne University of Technology, researchers found a creative way to cut both construction emissions and material costs by making bricks from recycled coffee grounds. Instead of letting all that coffee waste go to landfills, they partnered with local coffee shops to collect spent grounds straight from espresso machines. Then, by blending the coffee waste with natural clay and an alkali activator, they developed a recipe for low-emission bricks that are not only more sustainable but also faster and cheaper to produce than traditional clay ones. Coffee is the world's second most popular beverage, beaten only by tea. As such, there are approximately two and a quarter billion cups of coffee consumed daily. If you average out the espressos, cappuccinos, and americanos, then each cup brews using roughly eleven grams of freshly ground coffee. However, that leads to over nine million tonnes of coffee bean grounds. In turn, this generates an estimated eighteen million tonnes of damp, burnt byproduct dumped into landfills every single year. So, there is an abundance of supply, but how can coffee grounds be more efficient than traditional clay bricks? This innovative method of using spent coffee grounds drastically reduces the energy needed to mold bricks. Even low-quality traditional clay bricks must be baked in a kiln at over 900 degrees Celsius. These new coffee bricks only need to be cooked at 200 degrees Celsius. That's an 80 percent reduction in energy usage, meaning that these bricks are significantly more efficient for both the environment and manufacturing costs. The lead scientist, Dr. Wong, claimed, "It's lighter on energy, faster to produce, and designed to reduce electricity-related CO₂ emissions by up to 80 percent per unit." Not only are the manufacturing costs lower, but experts claim these coffee bricks are remarkably durable. According to Green Brick, they double "the Australian minimum standard for strength." In June, Swinburne University of Technology took a major step forward by signing an IP licensing deal with Australian company Green Brick. This partnership paves the way for using bricks made from recycled coffee grounds in real-world construction projects. Green Brick founder Philip Ng explained, "For the last century, materials have been judged by one thing: cost per square meter. But in the next chapter, we'll judge them by carbon, transparency, and circularity, and those metrics favor a new product." While Swinburne's team is transforming coffee waste, others around the world are exploring similar paths. In London, a group of researchers has developed "sugarcrete," a bio-brick made from sugarcane waste. As these kinds of innovations gain traction, recycled organic materials are starting to look like a practical and scalable alternative for the construction industry. It turns out your coffee habit might be more powerful than you think, not just for waking you up, but for building a cleaner future. Bricks from recycled coffee grounds are a creative solution to two big problems: construction pollution and coffee waste. As more researchers and companies get behind ideas like this, the future of sustainable building is looking a lot more grounded and a little more caffeinated. Would you live in a home built from recycled materials like coffee grounds or sugarcane waste? Why or why not? Let us know by writing to us at Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide - free when you join my Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Oshkosh Area School District hands out keepsake bricks from former Merrill Elementary & Middle School
OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – The Oshkosh Area School District (OASD) spent the early afternoon hours on Tuesday handing out keepsake bricks from the demolished Merrill Elementary and Middle School building. Oshkosh families and community members who wanted a piece of the old building were invited to the OASD Maintenance Building.. Historic Tommy Bartlett Show property in Wisconsin Dells sold Bricks were also salvaged and kept intact as part of the construction for the Merrill Memorial Corner, which is being built on the site of the former school. About 1,000 bricks were harvested and cleaned from the most historic part of the old building, and are available again to be picked up on Wednesday from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis, with one brick per family. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
