#colin midland

[feral-mouse]

I was going through a bunch of old notes to figure out what to keep and throw away, and I ran into a bunch of doodles I drew and never posted here (I think anyways) so here's an art dump lol. I honestly forgot I drew some of these

And there's a surprise Colin! 👀

[derekgoffard]

He's trying to look cute but its not quite working out for him 👐

[mallows-marsh]

POV: You just called your kidnapper a cutie pie ♡

AHHH so like I drew this almost two years ago??? And I meant to send it to the lovely @derekgoffard I did I really did I just got nervous rip

But I love Colin! One of the first OCs I fell in love with and all the effort you've put into him is such an inspiration to me when I'm making OCs myself!

I don't even know if my art looks like this anymore, I haven't drawn in this style in so long dhskdh

[derekgoffard]

GH5546545445565654!!!!!!!!!! YOU HEAR THAT COLIN- YOU GOT A BINGO, YOU GOT A BINGO BOY!!!!!! 🤸🤸🤸🤸😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

* TEARS IN MY EYES * I HUMBLY REQUEST MY RAT, COLIN, FOR THAT OC BINGO 🤲🤲🥺 THANK YOU VM, AND NO PRESSURE OFC !! 🙏

GIRTH!!!! I don't think you're aware of just how much I love Colin 😳😳 I WAS THERE WHEN HE FIRST APPEARED ON THE SCENE IN HIS BELL EARING ERA that's been a few years so idk how much has changed, but Colin was the first ever fan art I did of someone's oc. Colin has my whole heart, but when he was working at the POST OFFICE?? I love him, I love him and his crowded teeth and his painted nails and his fuck ass cardigan ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😤😤😤😤

WE EVEN GOT BINGOOOO

I am the number one Colin defender. Like yeah he did that shit and he looked good while doing it. I DON'T CARE. Nothing could make me dislike Colin 🤞🤞🤞 if Colin has ZERO fans I must be dead 🤷‍♀️

I am kissing him on the MOUF 👏

Not just me all my ocs would love him too not a doubt in my mind. I could go into detail and I WILL, I WILL GO INTO DETAIL-

Reasons why My (Hurrl's) oc's would like Colin

Hugo- The social awkwardness Colin has would enchant him.

Kalani- She adores the way he dresses and I think she'd really love his smile.

Squirrel- Thinks he's a little weirdo but in a fun way!

Wolfgang- They both enjoy anime and I feel like they could fangirl over their faves together.

Lilith- He looks bite-able.

Chrysalis- He seems very easy to make fun of. She would bully him but in a fun and hot way, promise! (I need 10 more of these lil pink bitches)

[thecrimecrypt]

Crimes That Shook Britain (East Midlands)

Murder of Kayleigh Haywood Kayleigh Haywood, 15, met Luke Harlow, 28, online in 2015. For two weeks, with over 2,600 texts, he groomed her. Said she was beautiful, declared his love, persuaded her to visit.

On Friday 15 November, Kayleigh’s dad dropped her at Ibstock Community College, Leicestershire, believing she was staying with a friend. At Harlow’s flat, Kayleigh met his neighbour Stephen Beadman, 29, and she was abused, plied with alcohol.

Her worried parents reported her missing. At 3am Sunday morning, a neighbour saw Kayleigh flee Harlow’s flat, naked from the waist down. Beadman chased her, raped her and killed her with a brick. Harlow was jailed 12 years for sexual activity, grooming and falsely imprisoning a child.

Beadman was jailed for life for rape, murder and false imprisonment of a child.

Colin Pitchfork November 1983 - Lynda Mann, 15, was found raped and strangled in Narborough.

The case went cold until July 1986, when Dawn Ashworth, 15, was raped and strangled less than a mile away. The year before, Alec Jeffreys, a British genetics researcher, had discovered DNA profiling.

Testing semen samples found at both crime scenes, Jeffreys linked the cases. Police asked local men aged 17 to 34 to submit blood. Jeffreys tested the DNA samples.

After being overheard admitting he paid a colleague to provide blood on his behalf, local man Colin Pitchfork, then 25, was arrested. His DNA matched both samples, and he was jailed for life.

Susan and Christopher Edwards In October 2013, police dug up a garden in Mansfield and found the remains of former residents Patricia and William Wycherley, 63 and 85.

The pairs daughter Susan Edwards, 56, and husband Christopher, 57, were arrested - turned out they’d shot and buried them in May 1998. For 15 years, Susan said her parents were travelling, but after living off their benefits, a letter to William from the Department For Work and Pensions scared them to confess.

They were convicted of murder and given life.

The Philpotts At 4am on 11 May 2012, Mick and Mairead Philpott’s home, 18 Victory Road, Derby, went up in flames. Despite Mick’s apparently valiant efforts to save their kids, Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, 9, Jack, 7, Jesse, 6, and Jayden, 5, all died.

Detectives found petrol inside the letterbox, and suspected arson. But while Mick and Mairead sobbed during a TV press conference, police already considered them suspects. A tangled love triangle emerged. Mick’s mistress, who’d lived with the Philpotts, had walked out with her five kids- a custody hearing loomed.

Mick planned to torch the family home, frame his ex love, and win custody. But a horrific fireball engulfed the house, trapping his and Mairead’s children upstairs.

In April 2013, Mick and Mairead Philpott were found guilty of six counts of manslaughter. Mick was jailed for life, Mairead for 17 years. A friend involved in the plot - Paul Mosley, 47 - also got a 17 year sentence for manslaughter.

Murder of Danielle Beccan On her way home from the Nottingham Goose Fair in October 2004, Danielle Beccan, 14, was shot in the stomach and killed in a drive-by.

Junior Andrews, then 24, and Mark Kelly, then 20, part of the Waterfront gang, were charged. They hated the St Ann’s area where Danielle lived and they’d wanted to ‘shoot up’ people.

When they saw Danielle, Kelly pulled up next to her and Andrews opened fire. Andrews and Kelly were jailed for life.

Beverley Allitt Liam Taylor, 7 months, was the first victim of serial killer nurse Beverley Allitt, then 22, in February 1991 at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire.

Within 59 days she’d killed Timothy Hardwick, 11, Becky Phillips, 2 months, and Claire Peck, 15 months, and tried to kill or harm nine more children. Staff became suspicious of the number of heart attacks on the ward.

Allitt was the only nurse on duty when the children were attacked. She’d given at least two of them large doses of insulin. In May 1993, Allitt was given 13 life sentences.

[thetreetopinn]

Sources for Somerton's Plagiarism from Hbomberguy's Video (as much as I could get)

I went back through Harry's video, focused entirely on the sources James Somerton pulled from in the hopes of creating as much of a comprehensive list as I could--though my Google-Fu is not very strong. I did however find something I thought was forever lost and that made me very happy--specifically the magazine Midlands Zone containing the column by Steven Spinks that Harry poignantly used as an illustration of gay erasure... while Somerton uses it to sound like HE is waxing remorseful about the very subject.

This is not a complete list, I'm sure. For one thing, I was only able to attempt to pull sources that Harry himself mentioned in the video. Surely there's so very much more out there. I expect there to be a great deal more internet archeology to unearth just how much writing and culture Somerton has stolen like he's the British Museum of Natural History but for gay people.

- - - - -

Harry's list of mentioned youtubers:

Alexander Avila - https://www.youtube.com/@alexander_avila Matt Baume - https://www.youtube.com/@MattBaume Khadija Mbowe - https://www.youtube.com/@KhadijaMbowe Lady Emily - https://www.youtube.com/@LadyEmilyPresents Shanspeare - https://www.youtube.com/@Shanspeare RickiHirsch - https://www.youtube.com/@RickiHirsch VerilyBitchie - https://www.youtube.com/@verilybitchie

Harry created a convenient playlist of videos by these and other people he wants to bring to everyone's attention.

Please give them your support.

- - - - -

Midlands Zone Magazine - Column by Steven Spinks

After a great deal of searching, I found an archive of the "Midlands Zone" magazine, where you can read through past issues dating all the way back to February 2014. I have also found the issue from which Somerton took Spinks' poignant discussion of gay erasure: Overall archive Specific Issue - Pages 16-17

It will not allow you to download it, but you can read it exactly as it appeared in print form.

- - - - -

My best effort to find the exact book or article Somerton lifted from to be able to get attention to the original writers

Tinker Bells and Evil Queens By Sean Griffin

The Celluloid Closet By Vito Russo Wikipedia article about the book Wikipedia article about the documentary My weak google-fu could not find where you can access the book or documentary. Check your local municipal or university library for book or documentary, or if you know a good source for one or both, please reblog with it added

Camp and the Gay Sensibility By Jack Babuscio

The Groundbreaking Queerness of Disney's Mulan By Jes Tom Personal site with links to social media accounts

Why Rebel Without a Cause was a milestone for gay rights By Peter Howell

Why "The Craft" is still the best Halloween coming out movie By Andrew Park

Opinion: From facehuggers to phallic tails, is 'Alien' one of the queerest films ever? By Dani Leever

Women and Queerness in Horror: Jennifer's Body By Zoe Fortier

[Pride 2019] We Have Such Sights to Show You: Hellraiser and the Spectrum of Queerness By Alejandra Gonzalez

Revealing the Hellbound Heart of Clive Barker's 'Hellraiser' By Colin Arason

Queering James Cameron's Aliens (1986) By Bart Bishop

Demeter and Persephone in space: transformation, femininity, and myth in the 'Alien' films By David Greven

Fears of a millennial masculinity: Scream's queer killers By David Greven (Scholarly site, unable to access original work, offers a way to request a full copy of the text in PDF)

Queer Subtext in Stephen King's It - Part 1: 'Reddie' Character Analysis By Rachel Brands Rachel is the very unfortunate lady who found out she was being stolen from because she supported Somerton through Patreon and saw one of his videos early with her writing--lacking any form of citation or credit

How 'It: Chapter Two' Leaves Richie Tozier Behind By Joelle Monique

When Horror Becomes Strength: Queer Armor in Stephen King's 'IT' By Alex London

Why Queer People Love Witchcraft By Amanda Kohr

'The Favourite' Queers The Past And The Present By Giorgi Plys-Garzotto

(Wuko) Crush (Mako x Wu) By MoonFlower on YouTube

5 Terrible Movies With Awesome Hidden Meanings By J.F. Sargent

The Radicalization of Sexuality: The Queer Casae of Jeffrey Dahmer By Ian Barnard

Netflix's 'Dahmer' backlash highlights ethical issues in the platform's obsession with true crime By Shivani Dubey

The Possible Disturbing Dissonance Between Hajime Isayama's Beliefs and Attack on Titan's Themes Original Article by "Seldom Musings" (Author has made all posts not related to Attack On Titan private and has retired from the blog)

Everyone Loves Attack on Titan. So Why Does Everyone Hate Attack on Titan? By Gita Jackson

- - - - -

The following people are otherwise named in the video. There are no direct citations of articles or books by them in said video. I am unable to guarantee that I have identified the correct individual.

Darren Elliott-Smith Michaela Barton David Church Claire Sisco King Amanda Howell Jessica Roy

- - - - -

Telos announced and cancelled a film likely based on this book: The Final Girl Support Group - By Grady Hendrix

- - - - -

I refrained from including certain sources.

First off only focusing on Somerton's work.

Secondly not including anything that might be visible enough to not require amplifying their voice (I cannot speak for all of those I have found links to, but journalism is frequently a thankless job).

Thirdly any source that is of a nature that is antithetical to the very existence of the queer community, such as the right-leaning source that didn't make it into Somerton's video, but Harry was able to identify as a source he had considered using.

If you feel I have missed a mentioned source--or you know of a source from material that was not covered in Harry's video--please do not hesitate to reblog with added details.

- - - - -

Please share this information far and wide, and please add to it if you find more material that can be positively identified and linked to the creator/writer.

[justforbooks]

The much-quoted phrase “Grief is the price we pay for love” reached a global audience in 2001 when Queen Elizabeth II used it in her message of condolence to those affected by the 9/11 attacks in the US.

But it was the psychiatrist Colin Murray Parkes, who has died aged 95, who first came up with the words that have given solace to so many. In his 1972 book Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life, he wrote: “The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love; it is, perhaps, the price we pay for love.”

When Parkes first proposed a research project on bereavement while working as a psychiatrist at the Maudsley hospital in south London in the 1960s, a professor responded: “What you have described isn’t a project, it’s a life’s work.” And so it proved.

Having noted that grief rarely featured in the indexes of the best-known psychiatry textbooks, he went on to write and co-author hundreds of research papers, and further books including Facing Death (1981); Death and Bereavement Across Cultures (1997); and Love and Loss: The Roots of Grief and Its Complications (2006). A selection of his works was published in 2015 as The Price of Love.

He was regularly called upon to provide assistance in the aftermath of large-scale disasters and admitted to finding this harrowing. Recalling his visit to Aberfan, the Welsh village near Merthyr Tydfil where a colliery waste tip collapsed on 21 October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults, he said: “The first time I drove away from the village I felt utterly helpless. Everyone I talked to had been desperate. I had to stop the car three times because I couldn’t carry on. I just needed to stop and cry.”

In April 1995 he was in Rwanda at the invitation of Unicef, who asked for his help in setting up a recovery programme following the previous year’s genocide there. He attended the reburial of 10,000 bodies that had been dug up from mass graves and felt haunted by his experiences in the country for the rest of his life.

After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001, in which 2,977 people died, Cruse – the bereavement charity of which Parkes was life president – was asked to send a team to New York to support the families of British victims. The biggest problem, he recalled, was making real to those families the unimaginable horror that their loved one was never going to come back. “Bereaved people can make it real, but it does take a long time. They have to go over it again and again, and think their way through it,” he said in an interview in the Independent shortly afterwards.

He also worked with those affected by the 1973 air crash near Basel, Switzerland, in which 108 died, mainly women from Axbridge, Somerset; the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985, in which 56 lost their lives; the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in which 193 died after the ferry capsized near Zeebrugge, Belgium, in 1987; and the bomb explosion in a flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 that killed 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents. Parkes also travelled to India to assess the psychological needs of people bereaved by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

He said: “One of the most awful things about bereavement is that the world goes on as if nothing had happened. For bereaved people the world is never going to be the same again.”

Born in London, Colin was the son of Gwen (nee Roberts), and Eric Parkes, a solicitor. After attending Epsom college, in Surrey, he went to Westminster hospital medical school (now part of Imperial College London), qualifying as a doctor in 1951.

He worked for two years as a junior house physician at Westminster, then at Kettering general hospital in the Midlands. After two years’ national service with the RAF medical corps, he joined the Institute of Psychiatry, based at the Maudsley.

Following the publication of his research into bereavement in 1962, he joined the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. There he worked with the psychologist John Bowlby for 13 years, disseminating the model of grief as consisting of four stages: numbness; pining; disorganisation and despair; and recovery.

Parkes was also instrumental in the introduction of bereavement services in hospices from the 1960s. He worked closely with Cicely Saunders – “the single-minded mother of palliative care with whom I shared angst at the scandalous ways our fellow doctors were treating patients faced with death and their families” – on the planning and launch of St Christopher’s hospice, Sydenham, in south London, in 1967.

Both were convinced that good care must involve families as well as patients. Parkes set up a bereavement service of trained volunteers who went into families’ homes and organised support groups, including some for staff, in the hospice. He remained involved with St Christopher’s until 2014, active as a consultant psychiatrist until 2007. He also performed this role at St Joseph’s hospice in Hackney, east London (1993-2007).

“He was a towering intellectual and hugely influential, but never took himself too seriously,” said the former chief executive of St Christopher’s Barbara Monroe. “He always remained a great clinician – very good at talking to patients and staff. And listening.”

In 1975 Parkes left the Tavistock to take up a senior lecturer role in psychiatry at Royal London hospital medical school, retiring from that post in 1993. His association with Cruse began in 1964, as a member of the council. He became chairman in 1972, and was made life president in 1992. Four years later he was appointed OBE.

Parkes edited the journal Bereavement from its launch in 1982 until 2019. Given the Times/Sternberg award – which celebrates the achievements of those over 70 – in 2012, when he was 84, he urged people to spend the last part of their lives in worthwhile work. “I was basically forced to retire at 65 and I got lots of cards with old men fishing on the front. But life is too short for retirement and the time has given me the opportunity to do things I would not otherwise have done,” he said.

In 1957 he married Patricia Ainsworth. She and their daughters, Liz, Jenny and Caz, survive him.

🔔 Colin Murray Parkes, psychiatrist and author, born 28 March 1928; died 13 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[icarus-suraki]

If you're interested in this idea of the "nations of the United States," I highly recommend American Nations: a History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America by Colin Woodard.

n.b.: This book doesn't really discuss Native or Indigenous or First Nations cultures at any length. This book is really about the modern cultures that have arisen out of different colonial cultures in different regions of what is now the United States and, to some degree, Canada and Mexico.

Here's how the author breaks it down:

Of the nations, Woodard explains, "It isn’t that residents of one or another nation all think the same, but rather that they are all embedded within a cultural framework of deep-seated preferences and attitudes – each of which a person may like or hate, but has to deal with nonetheless."

Yankeedom began with the Puritans (Calvinist English settlers) in New England and spread across upper New York, the northern parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, into the eastern Dakotas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Canadian Maritime. The area values education, communal decision-making and aims at creating a religious utopian communal society to be spread over other regions.

Deep South was settled by former Anglo-American West Indies plantation owners in Charleston, and spread to encompass South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, western Tennessee, and the southeastern parts of North Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. It values old Greco-Roman enlightened, civilized, idle slave society, free-markets and individual freedoms. It has fought centuries with Yankeedom over the dominance of North America, such as in the Civil War and the "culture wars" started by the civil rights movement since the 1960s.

New Netherland, established by Dutch colonists in the 17th century, is now Greater New York City, as well as the lower Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, western Long Island, and southwestern Connecticut. The area promotes liberal, multicultural values, capitalism and the freedom of the press.

Tidewater was founded by Cavaliers (Royalists during the era of the English Civil War and Stuart Restoration), and consists of Virginia, Maryland, southern Delaware, and northeastern North Carolina. Has cooperated often with Deep South and Greater Appalachia. Together with George Washington, many of the Founding Fathers came from here. Appalachian mountains cut its expansion westwards, and the region is now being overrun by the Midlands.

Greater Appalachia was populated by waves of immigrants that Woodard calls Borderlanders, from the borders of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands. Greater Appalachia covers the highlands in the south United States, the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, most of Oklahoma, and Texas Hill Country. Its fighting spirit is embodied by figures such as Davy Crockett, Andrew Jackson and Douglas MacArthur.

Midlands, founded by English Quakers followed by the Pennsylvania Dutch, consists of southeast Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware and Maryland, north central Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, northern Missouri, most of Iowa, and the eastern halves of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, as well has southern Ontario. The border city of Chicago is shared with Yankeedom and St. Louis with Greater Appalachia. Midlands promotes peaceful values and has often been in several elections the great swing-region between Yankeedom and the Southern Nations. According to Woodard it is culturally the most "American" of the nations.

New France began in 1604 with an expedition from France led by Pierre Dugua. It grew to encompass the lower third of Quebec, north and northeast New Brunswick, and southern Louisiana.

El Norte is where the oldest European subculture in the United States is found, from the early Catholic Spanish settlers in the 16th century. Later augmented by Anglo-Americans from Deep South and Greater Appalachia, it includes south and west Texas, southern California and its Imperial Valley, southern Arizona, New Mexico, parts of Colorado, and the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California.

Far West is the interior of the United States and Canada west of the 100th meridian between El Norte and First Nation. It includes the interiors of California, Oregon, and Washington, much of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alaska, part of Yukon and Northwest Territories, the west halves of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, as well as Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. The region has been "imperialized" by other nations, such as Yankeedom and Deep South with large mining and infrastructure projects. The Mormon Enclave has been its politically most influential group.

Left Coast was predominantly settled by Yankees from New England, with a huge influx from Greater Appalachia and countries around the world when gold was discovered. It encompasses the land between the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Ranges from Monterey, California to Juneau, Alaska, containing parts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. It is an ideological ally with Yankeedom and El Norte.

First Nation, founded by the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle, consists of much of Yukon, Northwest Territories, Labrador, Nunavut, Greenland, the northern tier of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, northwestern British Columbia, and the northern two-thirds of Quebec. It has preserved much better its culture and customs than the Native Americans in the United States.

As a North Carolinian myself, I've found that Woodard's "borders" make more sense of the local culture here than throwing NC in with the "deep south" because NC both does and doesn't fit. So I can so, for my part, the Tidewater designation makes sense. YMMV.

Map of broad U.S regions

[asic24]

Dead Men Sign Deals in Bizarre World of Henry Kaye

The dead tell no tales says the adage, but in the twilight world of property hustler Henry Kaye, they do run companies.

In that world, rubbish dumps are also glamorous lifestyle neighbourhoods, lawyers represent both sides of a transaction, companies that don't exist buy property, and hard cash and those holding it are inclined to vaporise.

John Wood was drawn into Kaye's web because he owned land on the outskirts of Bendigo. In Kaye's hands the site would be marketed as a future luxury housing estate, and naive investors would be lured by the promise of windfall gains from turning an ordinary farm into upmarket housing.

In his final months, Wood was a director of a company ultimately run by Kaye's associates as part of a land-banking racket across Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia exposed by ASIC in early 2015.

Almost six months after his death, Wood's signature even appeared on a contract allowing property to be used as security for a Kaye-linked loan.

Wood's graveyard instructions were just one of the bizarre stories heard in Federal Court in recent weeks as liquidators explored the labyrinth of companies, trusts and transactions that hid Kaye from public view as he fleeced small investors of tens of millions of dollars between 2010 and 2015.

The hearings were public examinations of 10 key players in just two of the schemes – "Foscari" in Melbourne's outer-west, and "Midland" in Bendigo – by liquidators along with the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Both schemes were wound up in 2016 because of insolvency.

It is now clear the regulator views Kaye – infamous in Australia for his wealth-creation seminars in the early 2000s – as the mastermind behind of what Jonathon Moore, QC, described in court as a "scam".

In the hearings, Moore detailed how Kaye directed, and profited from, every major transaction within and across the schemes, reaping millions of dollars for himself, his sister Julia Feldman, and his long-term allies including "project manager" Michael Grochowski, and lawyer, Colin Adno.

"You know don't you that this whole scheme was Henry Kaye promoted and driven from start to finish?" Moore asked of Kaye's lawyer Darren Eliau, a partner of Melbourne-based law firm Evans Ellis, formerly Clamenz Evans Ellis.

Moore accused Eliau of helping "hide" Kaye behind layers of secretive trusts, so that his involvement would not deter potential investors.

Eliau, whose firm was a key player in the land-banking schemes, eventually conceded the complex trust structures were intended to "conceal" Kaye who was also banned from managing corporations for five years in 2010.

The court heard how Kaye and his cronies moved millions of investors' dollars across ostensibly unrelated projects in undocumented and unsecured loans, transactions described by barrister Moore as money effectively "stolen".

He put to Eliau that his firm had been "hopelessly negligent" in facilitating such transactions.

Among the firm's senior lawyers examined was Daniel Clarke, who is also linked to the alleged $165 million Plutus tax fraud syndicate scam in NSW along with Adam Cranston, son of former Australian Taxation Office deputy commissioner Michael Cranston.

The Sunday Age understands that Victoria's legal profession watchdog, the Legal Services Commission, is now investigating Evans Ellis in relation to the Kaye land-banking scam.

The court also heard:

That a company ultimately controlled by Kaye, Bourke & Queen Mortgages, loaned money to a development company Foscari Holdings, at the extraordinary interest rate of up to 60 per cent. How Kaye dictated terms including a direction that his Bourke & Queen Mortgages would loan money to the Foscari and then, later, that it would increase the level of the loan. That Kaye's sister, Julia Feldman, also profited by lending money to Foscari though her company, Step Forward Investments. Kaye and/or Feldman controlled the marketing and real estate companies that siphoned off one-third of the investor payments on Wood's Bendigo land. Kaye associate and project manager Michael Grochowski concede that most of the investors' $24 million outlaid on the Bendigo project was eaten up in commissions or undocumented "loans" to other entities. The Belarus-born Kaye amassed a fortune from get-rich seminars in the early 2000s. His wealth education empire collapsed in 2003 owing 3500 investors up to $60 million.

It appears that some of that money was spent on sites in Melbourne's sprawling outer-west where Kaye road tested his new business – urban fringe land-banking.

In manipulative seminars from 2011 to 2014, Kaye, his sister and their offsiders, flogged projects such as Foscari (an "iconic architectural masterpiece") and Veneziane (the "Toorak of the West").

Similar schemes were rolled out on the fringes of Melbourne, Bendigo, Shepparton and Townsville.

ASIC has estimated that as much as $100 million may have been outlaid by investors across about 10 such schemes.

But years after the projects were spruiked and options sold, not one sale has been finalised nor brick laid. In some cases, investors were literally buying options where Kaye's team only had options – an options on options, in other words.

An important element of the Kaye swindle was to wrap it in credibility by promoting the involvement – usually fleeting and often unpaid – of big brand names including architects Fender Katsalidis, lawyers Slater and Gordon and, even, the Victorian government.

Kaye's ingenuity stretched to winning a $520,000 grant from the Napthine government for innovative stormwater catchment; this, for a project never started, much less completed.

While Kaye was not among the 10 witnesses called for public examination, The Sunday Age understands that this is because ASIC is hoping to build a case against him before acting.

But the regulator has a problem. Kaye appears to have disappeared. It's likely that much of the land-banking riches are with him.

He is understood to have left Australia in the wake of ASIC revelations and the official investigations that followed, including by ASIC, a Senate committee and the Victorian Legal Services Commission.

If Kaye has absconded, and no one is held to account for ripping off thousands of investors, ASIC faces a potential embarrassment.

It will soon be three years since ASIC revealed the land-banking scam and pointed to the involvement of Kaye and his family. To date, no one has been held responsible. The land banking scam has been a top investigative priority for ASIC since.

If the regulator falls short in its pursuit of Kaye and his cronies it will be the second time it has done so. Its first attempt failed spectacularly almost a decade ago.

Kaye's sister Julia Feldman was summoned for public examination but did not appear, claiming she was too ill.

In the court, Kaye's accomplice Michael Grochowski blamed the deceased John Wood for many of the failings of the Bendigo scheme.

There are is now real concern among investors and others seeking justice that, in the case of the Bendigo scam at least, the buck may yet rest with the one man unable to defend himself, or pay up.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

BRINGING THAT HEAVY MIDLANDS PUNK SOUND TO THESE L.A. STREETS -- PEAK HARDCORE '83.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on guitarist/band co-founder Colin "Jock" Blyth of English hardcore/street punk band CHARGED G.B.H., performing live at the Cathay De Grande in Hollywood/L.A., California, c. 1983. 📸: Linda Aronow.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3515961603535246092.

[wozman23]

2024 Music in Review: My Favorite Songs

Spotify Wrapped is here, but mine is only a small glimpse of what I listen to, and how I listen to it. Sure, as singles release, I do usually turn to Spotify, or YouTube, to listen. But once an album is out, the vast majority of my listening happens via the iPod connect to my car stereo on my 25-60+ minute commutes to and from work (depending on how early I wrap up my day - no pun intended). And on PC I still prefer Winamp. I only tolerate iTunes because having every song I've ever loved, stored locally, on a simple device that interfaces with my car stereo has never been trumped.

So here's a small sampling of what Spotify and iTunes say I listened to most.

Note: at a certain point this year, iTunes scrubbed my complete history of play counts (I bought a new PC and probably loaded a different backup of the files from a different drive, plus iTunes always gives me a fight when synching my modded iPod.) Otherwise, there would still be a lot of plays from Fair to Midland, Lions at the Gate, Fire from the Gods, Voyager, and some of the other early albums from the year or late last year.

First off, as favorites go, it was a sweep this year:

Artist of the Year: Linkin Park

Album of the Year: From Zero

Song of the Year: "Good Things Go" (debatable with many of the other From Zero songs)

"IGYEIH" by Linkin Park:

I talked about "Good Things Go" elsewhere before, as well as iTunes' most played song, "Stained" so here's "IGYEIH." If I have one criticism of it, it is that I wish Colin would have leaned even more into the bass drum with a barrage of sixteenth note kicks as the phrases end ("wishful thinking, drowning, sinking, left with nothing left, I give you everything I have!")

"I Don't Know How We Got Here" by VOLA:

My second favorite song (excluding LP songs) is up for debate. But let's give it to VOLA with "I Don't Know How We Got Here." It's a hauntingly smooth, catchy track with some interesting imagery. And Adam Janzi is one of the smoothest guys behind a drumset, effortlessly working around his kit with perfect precision on a song that somehow both feels somewhat simple yet percussively complex. So here he is playing through the track.

VOLA's full album is another latecomer to 2024 which is why their iTunes play count is still lacking. I loved all the singles, but I'm still forming an opinion on the complete album, and it doesn't get as much love with LP on constant repeat.

"Last dAntz" by Alien Ant Farm:

Alien Ant Farm came back! That wasn't on my bingo card. A lot of people call them a one hit wonder, and really only know them for a cover song. I was a huge fan of their first two albums. "Movies," "Attitude," "Wish," "Summer," "Goodbye," and "1000 Days" are all worthy of your time. Later, "Homage" was a beautiful song honoring music. Their new album is just as eccentric as their older albums, sometimes to its detriment, but one song stands out as possibly their best song ever: "Last dAntz." It reminds me a lot of the heart of "Homage." Dryden's vocals and phrasing are still really cool. And the chorus kills! I really didn't latch on to the album, and I gravitate towards groups with albums that I enjoy from start to finish, but every time I turn on this song, I'm really, really impressed.

"Your Last Breath" by Overhead, The Albatross:

If you'd have asked me last year, "What's your favorite song of all time?" I'd have blurted out "Big River Man by Overhead, The Albatross!" I found them in 2016, deep in my quest to explore post-rock. And I've been hooked ever since. No one composes like them. Describing them as post-rock almost feels silly. They exist on a different plane. They'll make 10 minute songs that never overstay their welcome. They've got the elements of a typical rock band. And some great synths and programming. But they'll also bring in sax players. Choral singers. Do some spoken word stuff. And hell, they'll even bang on the rungs of ladders. Sometimes you'll find a driving motivation in their work, yet other times you'll hypnotically zone out in the atypically metered polyrhythms. You'll find moments of sadness and joy in equal measure. They're a one of one. You simply won't find anything quite like them. They went silent for a while through the pandemic. But thankfully they're back. And they also put out a new album last month. And now when you ask me my favorite song I'm no longer sure. It might still be "Big River Man" but it just might be "Your Last Breath."

Putting them this far down this list feels criminal. And even in typing this, maybe this should even be my Song of the Year. Let's call it my "Indie Song of the Year."

However, I've sang this one's praises before. I've posted this song on two occasions: on it's release as a single, and the day the album came out.

I know they're off the beaten path. And I know some people are offput by a 9:07 song that isn't driven by lyrics. But the fact that this video has been on YouTube for 8 months and has only amassed 3500 views feels like music's biggest travesty.

If there are two things I'm ecstatic about in music this year, it's the return of Linkin Park and Overhead, The Albatross. They're both back in my list of favorite artists.

"Antihero" by We Are The Catalyst:

I've followed We Are The Catalyst since 2014 when I stumbled upon their debut LP. I've praised them many times over the years as well. Now, five LPs deep, after releasing a steady stream of singles, they've compiled them all for Friction. They've long been a Linkin Park-esque stand-in for me. Created by the Swedish sweethearts, Cat and Kenny, they share a lot of similar elements to LP. And they've come a long way from the early days of utilizing programmed drums. Through it all they've held on to Cat's great vocals, Kenny's growls and screams, and a whole lot of synths. But I'm always most impressed with the fact that Kenny produces everything himself, in-house. "Antihero" is easily the standout from Friction, but it's got a lot of good stuff.

"STARCHILD" by COSMODROME:

COSMODROME is actually somewhat similar to We Are The Catalyst, but they were a new discovery for me via Spotify's recommendations. I'm always looking for more band like STARSET, which basically became a favorite after craving more bands like Linkin Park. COSMODROME is basically German STARSET. Much like We Are The Catalyst, you can tell English isn't their primary language. And there's something really interesting about that. These guys only have singles, so I do actually use Spotify to listen to them, which is why the appear in the Top 5 list. They aren't on my iPod yet, but the day they release an album, they will be.

"DEGENERATE" by STARSET:

Speaking of STARSET, they're putting out singles. They've all been great at adding new layers to Dustin's vocals. "TokSik" has a fun message, and an equally as fun rap-ish section. "Brave New World" introduced us to STARSET dropping f-bombs, which I'm still kind of mixed on. But the track I've liked most so far is "DEGENERATE," largely for it's anti-AI messaging, but mainly because its got that new, low, throaty vocal from Dustin (Down, down, down, down, down, It's a race to the bottom.") You'll see Downplay, Dustin's former band, listed as a top artist, because I was listening to them a lot early in the year to familiarize myself with his past work. Prior to my iTunes, reboot, you'd have seen a lot of STARSET too. I can't wait for what's next!

"Animal Soul" by AURORA:

Last year, the music from Alan Wake II consumed me. This year, the song from gaming that did that was AURORA's "Animal Soul" which closed out Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. I really want to find more stuff like this and the haunting Alan Wake electro-pop-ish stuff, but I don't know how to find it or where to look. As far as this song goes, from what I understand this was a song AURORA never really recorded a studio version for. Then Ninja Theory commissioned her to record it for Hellblade. It's simply beautiful. I assume with its almost exactly 3 minute length - that feels as if it ends way too soon - it was perhaps written for Eurovision. I'm so thankful for these two worlds coming together. Otherwise I'd probably never have heard this gem.

Honorable Mentions, many of which I've posted before:

Young Lion - Non-Believer (an old find through Spotify)

Greywind - Here's Your Deathwish (and their entire EP)

Abandon Pools - Amazing Days

"I Don't Need Anyone" and almost the entire Hell Side of Sum 41's last album

And plenty of carry over from last year from bands like Fire From the Gods, Voyager, Lions at the Gate, blink-182, and perennial favorites, Fair to Midland.

[feral-mouse]

OH MY GOD SO MANY PEOPLE DIED OSJPAJFJKS. I'M SO SORRY RANDY IS SUCH A HARD BITCH TO SURVIVE 😭😭😭. But anyways, let's get into the statistics 👀

I sadly won't be going through every character, but I'll try to explain my rankings

You can find the template here

First I'm gonna provide some color coding assignments, so if you wanna look for a specific oc, it'll be easier to do so lol

RED: Squirrel, Skull, Eugene

ORANGE: Tantrum, Clove, Fester, Elowyn

YELLOW: Cyrus

GREEN: Davis

BLUE: Dan, Bo, Oenis

PURPLE: Conrad, Ronny

PINK: Kalani, Colin, Vesper, Theo, Sable

Most/Least Likely to get Kidnapped

Dan is at the number one slot. SOMEONE HELP HIM. RANDY HAS BEEN MEANING TO EAT HIM FOR MONTHS NOW PSJFJSKA. THE SECOND DAVIS IS OUT OF THE PICTURE, DAN IS A DEAD MAN

Squirrel is next. Since she loves climbing trees, this means she's always out in the woods, and has a high likelihood of bumping into Randy lol

Then I have Conrad in third place because honestly, I feel like she's a danger magnet pajjcjs. Maybe she's seen way too many people bring Randy back to their hotel rooms, only for them to be found dead the next night. She made the mistake to confront him about it 😤

I've placed the people in the middle because I feel like they wouldn't be as likely to run into Randy, whether it's because they hang out in the wrong crowds, or because they won't venture the woods at night lol. It is leading with Vesper and Bo because they would smell delicious. Randy would approach them first 😔 pshjcksl

The last five starts with Fester. He might be too intimidating for Randy to try to eat lol. Randy does not want to get into a losing fight 😤. Next is Cyrus, who is only placed so low because he is VERY CAUTIOUS. He is making sure not to run into ANYONE. He wants to stay hidden. Davis is after him because if Randy goes after him, Dan might start to get suspicious. And he does honestly get the vibes that Davis wants to kill him too (he does lol). Oenis is there because he honestly does not look appetizing at all 😭. He looks so dirty and like he'd taste gross 😭

Then in the very last place is Skull. RANDY DOES NOT WANNA GET INTO A FIGHT WITH THIS GUY. HE COULD VERY CLEARLY OVERPOWER RANDY, AND HE DOES NOT WANNA TAKE THE RISK PSJFJKSL

Favorite/Horrendous Victim

Davis 👏 is 👏 number 👏 one 👏 👁👁. HUNT THAT BITCH DOOOOWN. Randy would honestly love to hunt Davis. Give him a taste of his own medicine. He'd love to put him in his place. Randy is actually stronger than Davis. Davis would put up a good fight, and it'd definitely be very fun for Randy to watch him struggle, but unfortunately, he is going to end up dead. Randy has a vendetta against Davis. Not only is Davis preventing him from kidnapping Dan, but he's also just so passively aggressive in general. He gets bad vibes from Davis, and feels like Davis is constantly judging him (which he is). Randy hates those types of people

Squirrel and Colin are next because Randy would have a blast hunting them down. I feel like Squirrel's not the type to go down without a fight. You know she's gonna be climbing up trees and using that to her advantage. It's gonna be something that Randy's never seen before. Sure, people have climbed the trees to get away from him, but Squirrel is different, she's experienced, she knows what she's doing and she's swift with it. For Colin, Randy would be mesmerized by his outfit, and also he'd love watching Colin squirm and freak out lol. He's such a cutie that you could gobble right up! 😋

Starting from Theo, Randy starts to have less of an enjoyable time because these people are fighting back lol. He does love a good chase, but also he does NOT like dying. If you're fighting him with the intent to kill, he's putting a stop to that immediately. That being said, I do still think Randy would have a good time interacting with some of them. Theo seems super nice, and Tantrum would honestly be a blast to fight, he would love her spirit >:). Clove would be very fascinating as well, considering he's a fox beastkin. After the initial awe though, Randy is going to have to adjust to fighting him. I'd imagine Clove is very nimble, so that would really catch Randy off guard

Eugene's right in the middle because he would be too boring, he's too passive 😔 pzjfks. Ronny and Sable would be too eager to kill Randy, so he doesn't like them either lol. Same with Skull, Cyrus, and Fester, except they'd REALLY wanna kill Randy osjfkl

Elowyn is in last place because Randy would honestly just find her annoying psjfksk. She would be going into this too tactically. She is coming up with plans and backup plans, trying to figure out how to use the woods to her advantage, coming up with ways to manipulate Randy. But all of that shit would fly over his head. Nothing she says is gonna land with him. He's just gonna be like "she talks way too much and I don't get any of it 🙄" before stabbing her in the stomach lol

DEAD

For the last section, I'm gonna start by talking about the people who die lol

Unfortunately, Vesper, Bo, Dan, Conrad, Elowyn, Eugene, Colin, Cyrus, and Tantrum getting EATEN PAJFKSKA. The others are getting eaten too, but they're dying in a scuffle. I'm sure everyone is fighting back, but these guys are fighting back. Tantrum and Cyrus are too, but I feel like they're easier to take down than the last three

Survivors who KILLED

Theo, Skull, and Clove are killing Randy. Of course, Theo is immortal lol. So even if Randy somehow kills him, Theo is getting back up when Randy least expects it and is stabbing him in the back

Skull's massive size and wolf strength is easily overpowering Randy

I feel like Clove would also get the upper hand on Randy because he's not used to hunting people who are so quick. Clove is dodging all of his swings and it would honestly freak him out lol. Randy wouldn't be thinking straight in his panic 😔

FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HE SPARES

He is vibing. He is chilling. They are all having a good time

Once Randy learns that Sable has been the one who's dumping bodies in the middle of the woods, they are immediately becoming best friends pekfkw. Killer solidarity. Sable needs a way to get rid of the bodies, and Randy needs to eat

I think Kalani would know exactly what to say to win Randy over and spare her, whether they end up as friends or lovers 😌

Squirrel is also just so cool. I could see them getting along really quickly lol. Randy might stop hunting her in the middle of it because her vibes are fantastic

Oenis is also surviving because the two of them would also get along lol. They have the same type of humor, and honestly I can imagine the both of them hunting people down together lol. Also, since Oenis is a shapeshifter, it would be an instant party trick between the two of them lol. Randy would love watching him turn into different people lol. (Also Oenis would NOT be pleasant to eat osjfjks. Man is too dense and chewy, he's grooosssss 😭)

Characters belong to...

@hurrl: Conrad, Kalani, Squirrel

@derekgoffard: Colin, Tantrum

@dread0narrival: Clove, Vesper

@weirdo-canniboy: Theo, Skull, Fester

@the-bees-knives: Oenis

The rest belong to me lol

[derekgoffard]

Colin's older sister is a very small part of his background, however Ive had some characterization down for a while now so I thought I'd make a little post about her 🤲.

Her name is Claire Midland! She has virtually no relationship with Colin and probably does not ever wish to see him again yayyay 👐. She also has those mother issues that make you a bit mean and desperate for comfort all the time but that's okay 👍.

Some extra trivia under the cut 🕊️

( THESE ARE ALL WRITTEN VERY MESSY + INCOHERENT. IM SORRY IF U ATCUALLY TRY READING THIS 😭😭😭😭😭 )

- she went into nursing because she wanted to give others the kind of care and attention she herself craved - however she eventually realized that was not at all the reality of nursing. She kind of hates her job 👹.

- her life revolves around this funny little cycle of her feeling this constant sense that she is unloved, which leads her to constantly be seeking comfort ( physical and emotional ). However she never feels comforted for long, hence the cycle continuessss la la la🤸.

- her favorite thing ever is being coddled, she's a hard worker but she wishes she wasn't.

- She loves flowersss, but she can never keep them alive. Despite this she continues to buy them, only to have them die in days. Her favorite flowers are sun flowers 😊.

- her necklace has her and her mother's birthstones ( emerald and topaz ).

- she's never held a steady relationship for over a year but she has alot of positive one night stands. Not necessarily sex either - usually she just wants to be cuddled and coddled over for a night, y'know how it is ☹️..... Let me tell you what tho her aftercare game is unbeatable LOLLLLLLLL.

- she was a very clingy and emotionally demanding child. ( example; Claire would absolutely NOT enter school without her mother, and so her mom had to sit next to her desk in school for most of her early education ). This was okay for a little while, but when Colin was born, their parents got a divorce, and their already mentally ill mother could not really cope with two children.

- Since Claire was the oldest ( still very very little, like 7 years old )- it fell on her to help her mother, while Colin would bounce between their father and mother. Claire has never had a relationship with Colin, but she secretly blames and resents him for their parents divorce, and their mothers declining mental health. While ofc Colin resents her for basically gatekeeping his own mom LOL.

- Her relationship with her mother is surface level and distant. No matter how hard she may want to- she just can't connect to her mother. Claire is too emotionally taxing and her mother is pretty much unwilling to deal with it at this point. Claire reminds her of the lowest times in her life, and she sees Claire's attachment to her as a failure in how she raised her. She thinks Claire needs to grow out of it by herself. I think her mother does feel guilty about how Claire's childhood turned out- and so she really does think trying to let Claire find her own way is what's best for her.

- oh and also Claire is pretty much the reason Colin received so little attention from her as a child LOL- she would get HIDEOUSLY jealous of baby Colin taking attention from her mother and throw really intense fits about it 👤 I'm thinking she even went as far as trying to hurt Colin in some way. Sorry Colin, no healthy relationship with mom for you. your sister is too emotionally demanding.

- I think she's doing okay now. She's a little unhinged but I'm thinking she has a steady job and nice girlfriend now. I kinda want her to be happy y'know. 🕊️

- unrelated but Claire has not seen Colin since they were young teenagers so she has no idea about his dyed hair or fashion sense. I don't think she'd be able to recognize him to be honest LOL.

[theboysfromaustin]

Jeremy had an older brother named Colin, who would screw with Jeremy and his friends, as older brothers do.

He convinced them there was Nazi gold from a sunken submarine in the River Irwell. Ian was the most skeptical 7-year-old, "I don't think a submarine could get this far inland..." But Henry pulled his shirt over his head and told Jeremy they'd all go TREASURE HUNTING.

Of course there was nothing, and Colin and his delinquent friends rained horse chestnuts down on them, focing them to swim the river.

Rinse, repeat. Jeremy loved his brother and wanted to hang out with him. He mellowed out a lot and died in the British Midlands disaster.

[saturdaynightmatinee]

CALIFICACIÓN PERSONAL: 6 / 10

Título Original: Clubbed

Año: 2008

Duración: 95 min

País: Reino Unido

Dirección: Neil Thompson

Guion: Geoff Thompson

Música: Paul Heard

Fotografía: Kate Stark

Reparto: Mel Raido, Scot Williams, Maxine Peake, Ronnie Fox, Colin Salmon, Shaun Parkes, Dominic Coleman, Neil Morrissey, Katherine McGolpin, Nick Holder, Aicha McKenzie, Michelle Marsh, Charlie May-Clark, Naomi Millbank-Smith

Productora: Formosa Films, Screen West Midlands

Género: Action; Crime; Drama

TRAILER:

[thxnews]

National Nature Reserve Expansion Safeguards Trees

A major expansion of the Moccas Park and Gillian’s Wood National Nature Reserve in Herefordshire has been announced by the UK government. This initiative aims to protect ancient oaks and sweet chestnut trees that are hundreds of years old, ensuring their survival for future generations. The reserve's area will increase by 100 hectares, creating a sanctuary for diverse wildlife and preserving historical woodlands.  

Ancient Trees and New Beginnings

Moccas Park, already renowned for its ancient oaks, is now joined by Gillian’s Wood to form an expanded National Nature Reserve. This expansion is not just about enlarging the territory but also about restoring and preserving vital ecosystems. The newly named reserve combines the historic Moccas Park with Woodbury Hill Wood, now managed by the Woodland Trust, thanks to support from a Herefordshire family.  

Old Man of Moccas. Photo by the Ancient Tree Forum. Facebook.   Importance of the Reserve The reserve is home to some of the UK’s oldest trees, including the legendary “Old Man of Moccas,” an oak tree believed to be over 850 years old. These ancient trees are invaluable not only for their historical significance but also for the biodiversity they support. The restoration efforts will benefit various species, including bats, beetles, and dormice, making this reserve a crucial habitat for wildlife.  

Restoration Efforts

Natural England and the Woodland Trust are spearheading the restoration of the woodlands. The expansion includes the transformation of Moccas Hill Wood into wood pasture and the revival of Woodbury Hill Wood as ancient woodland. These efforts involve carefully removing conifer trees planted in the 1950s to give space for native species, thus allowing the ancient trees to thrive.  

Woodland & information board Woodbury Hill. Photo by Colin Park. Geograph.  

Actions and Outcomes

The restoration of these woodlands involves several critical actions aimed at enhancing the health of the ecosystem. These include increasing light to the forest floor, which will help native plants and trees re-establish themselves. Additionally, the removal of non-native conifers will create a more conducive environment for the ancient trees and the species that depend on them. Action Description Outcome Conifer Removal Gradual removal of 1950s conifer trees Space for native species and ancient trees to thrive Light Enhancement Increasing light penetration to the forest floor Growth of native flora Ancient Tree Survey Tagging and initial management of surviving ancient trees Ensured survival and proper care Wildlife Monitoring Continuous monitoring of local wildlife Improved habitat conditions   Quotes from Key Figures Emma Johnson, West Midlands Deputy Director for Natural England, highlighted the historical importance of the trees: “The amazing ancient trees in Moccas Park and Gillian’s Wood date back hundreds of years to medieval times and beyond and provide rich and varied spaces for many species, including the Moccas beetle found at only one other site in the UK.”   Richard Brown, Site Manager of the Woodland Trust, emphasized the significance of the restoration efforts: “Ancient Woods have been around since at least the 1600s and cannot be replaced. Gradually removing the conifer trees will allow light to reach the woodland floor and the plants, trees and associated wildlife found within an ancient woodland will start to establish themselves once more.”  

The Legacy of Gillian Bulmer

Gillian’s Wood is named in memory of Gillian Bulmer, a strong advocate for woodlands and trees. Her brother, John Bulmer, and the trustees of her will supported the Woodland Trust in acquiring and restoring Woodbury Hill Wood. This dedication ensures that her love for nature continues to inspire and protect these ancient landscapes. John Bulmer expressed his sentiments on the dedication: “Being able to support the Woodland Trust to buy and restore this ancient woodland in Gillian’s memory feels very fitting. She was a strong advocate for woods and trees throughout her life and the designation of the National Nature Reserve in the county where she loved feels very poignant.”  

Chicken of the woods. Photo by We Like Sharing. Flickr.   Enhancing Wildlife Habitat The expansion of Moccas Park and Gillian’s Wood National Nature Reserve is not only a victory for historical preservation but also a boon for wildlife. The reserve supports over 1,000 species of fly, 700 species of beetle, and 13 out of the 18 UK bat species. Birds, including all three types of woodpeckers and the nationally significant Pied Flycatchers, find sanctuary here.   Public Access and Engagement The reserve is largely open to the public, offering spectacular views of the Herefordshire landscape. Visitors can explore Gillian’s Wood and Moccas Hill Wood freely, while guided walks and open days at Moccas Park will enhance public engagement and appreciation of these ancient woodlands.  

In Conclusion

The expansion of the Moccas Park and Gillian’s Wood National Nature Reserve marks a significant step in preserving the UK's natural heritage. By safeguarding ancient trees and enhancing wildlife habitats, this initiative ensures that future generations can enjoy and learn from these remarkable landscapes. The combined efforts of Natural England and the Woodland Trust, supported by the local community, underscore the enduring value of conservation and historical preservation. For more information about the Moccas Park and Gillian’s Wood National Nature Reserve and upcoming events, visit the Natural England website or contact the Woodland Trust.   Sources: THX News, Natural England & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Read the full article