Weekender Alicante South Issue 106

Alex Trelinski’s
Back In Britain
TRIUMPHANT
SNORKELLER
A Wiltshire man, who took part in this year’s bogsnorkelling
competition, has been hailed a champion
once again, but failed to beat his world record.
Bog-snorkelling was invented in the Welsh town of
Llanwrtyd Wells in 1976.
It involves competitors swimming through a waterfilled
trench in a peat bog and attracts people come from
all over the world.
The current world champion and world record holder
is Neil Rutter, who achieved a time of one minute and
18.82 seconds in the 2018 championships.
He won again this year in Wales, but the 34-year-old,
from Swindon, came in at one minute and 21 seconds.
Each to their own I say!
GREAT DETECTION
The wonderfully-written TV show Detectorists
showed how nerdy such hobbiests can
be, but a couple have had the last laugh
when they discovered a five million pound
treasure trove.
Adam Staples and Lisa Grace, 42, made their
once-in-a-lifetime discovery while out metal detecting
together in Somerset back in January.
They discovered 2,571 silver coins that date
back a thousand years, and are from the time of
King Harold II, aka Harold Godwinson, who was
the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England
and who died in the Battle of Hastings by an arrow
through the eye.
He was only king for seven months so coins
from the period of his reign are incredibly rare.
The couple handed over their find to the British
Museum and any proceeds they earn from
them will be split with the land owner.
Over the last seven months the museum has
been cataloguing and assessing the coins which
were unveiled to the public this week.
Detecting therefore has quickly lost the nerdy
label!
Think of the fish
The first thing I ever won as a kid
was a goldfish at a fair in Manchester,
which my dad then carefully
brought home in a plastic bag,
ahead of getting a bowl.
Over fifty years ago, that didn’t seem
cruel, but things have rightly changed,
with a Welsh pet shop worker wanting
the whole of Wales to bring in restrictions.
Holly Homer from Barry has
launched a petition to the Welsh Assembly,
saying most of the time people
who win fish do not know how to care
for them.
The Welsh Government expects to
launch a consultation on animal ex-
hibit licensing before the end of the
summer.
Fish cannot be given away as prizes
in England and Wales to a person aged
under 16 who is unaccompanied by an
adult.
Some councils in England have
banned it altogether, but none in Wales
has done as yet.
Ms Homer, who is confident of getting
the 5,000 signatures her petition
needs to be debated by Welsh Assembly
members, said she is concerned
about the well-being of many fish that
are won.
The 23-year-old said people come
into her pet shop “swinging the fish
around in a bag” and asking to buy a
tank.
“They’re never aware that the fish
is going to grow huge, and they need a
proper filtration system for it, medications,”
she said.
She’s absolutely correct and this sort
of prize-giving really ought to be totally
banned...period!
BEN’S BURGER BINGE
How do you celebrate becoming
a national hero with one of the
greatest-ever innings to level the
Ashes series?
Well, Ben Stokes decided to go the
fast-food way, with a £55 drive-thru
McDonald’s.
Stokes scored a sensational unbeaten
135 at Headingley on Sunday,
including eight sixes, as England inflicted
a painful one wicket win over
the Aussies.
But after the post-match interviews
and a bit of chilling out in the
dressing room, it was time to eat as
Stokes explained:-
“There were quarter-pounders and
Filet-O-Fish flying everywhere,” the
Dogs are brilliant pets, but as we
well know, they are life savers as
well, including a new recruit to the
Scottish Fire and Rescue service,
the cool-looking three-year-old
English Springer spaniel, who is
called Mac.
He’ll be joining their existing search
dog Diesel, and they can help provide
assistance during long searches, and
as they are lighter, smaller and more
agile than firefighters they can be
sent into collapsed building if it is
28-year-old all-rounder commented,
after the Uber taking him and teammates
Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes,
Rory Burns and captain Joe Root
back to the team hotel was instructed
to take a detour via the fast food joint.
Stokes also paid tribute to his wife
Clare.
“Your family go though everything
with you, good and bad, so it is great
to be able to celebrate with them at
times like this,” he added.
“I didn’t actually see Clare until
late in the evening and I still had my
training gear on and my England cap.
“First thing she spotted was the
bag in my hand. She said: ‘Oh, so
we’ve been to McDonald’s have we?’”
MAC’S GEARED UP
I’m loving that!
safe to do so.
They could both be called out to
incidents anywhere in Scotland at a
minute’s notice, while they are both
also able to work in other countries as
part of an international search team.
Mac has just passed his grading
in Merseyside, and dog handler and
crew manager Gary Carroll said:
“We’ve had him since he was eightweeks
old so to get to this stage is a
real proud moment.”
“But it’s not just me that’s been involved,
my wife, my family and the
fire service have really helped us and
got us to the stage of qualifying.”
Suffolk-born Mac looks raring to
go, in another example of how man’s
best friend is so special.
THE LILO
SISTERS
Lilos and the sea never was out of his depth and in
go together for safety trouble.
reasons, but two teenage
sisters who used a paddling in the shallows,
The sisters, who had been
lilo to rescue a man and said “the adrenaline kicked
his young son when they in” as 15-year-old Isla took
got into difficulty off the the lilo out to the struggling
north-east coast of Scotland
“deserve medals”, back to the beach to call 999.
pair while Eilidh, 14, raced
according to the emergency
services.
other man, Keith Gray, who
They were assisted by an-
Isla and Eilidh Noble helped pull the father and
were on the beach at the son back in to the beach,
Waters of Philorth, near and a nurse, Sophie Ross,
Fraserburgh, on Monday who was walking along the
afternoon when they heard beach as the drama unfolded.
shouting.
At first they thought the The local lifeboat crew
man was playing with his said that without the quick
child, who was on his shoulders
as he swam in deep wa-
Eilidh, the incident would
action taken by Isla and
ter, but quickly realised he have ended in tragedy.