Weekender Alicante North Issue 106

40
Alex Trelinski’s
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!
Back In
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
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
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
exhibit 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!