#wyre and garstang

[petnews2day]

cricket veteran, cat-lover and council leaders amongst Lancashire folk given a gong

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/yXqId

cricket veteran, cat-lover and council leaders amongst Lancashire folk given a gong

Watch more of our videos on Shots! and live on Freeview channel 276 Visit Shots! now A Fylde cricket club stalwart, a volunteer for a first aid group and a woman dedicated to the protection of cats join two Lancashire council leaders in gaining recognition in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours List. While Alistair Bradley, who […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/yXqId #CatsNews #Blackpool, #Burnley, #Chorley, #Council, #Fylde, #Heysham, #HumanInterest, #Kirkham, #Lancashire, #Lancaster, #Leyland, #Mbe, #Morecambe, #News, #Politics, #Preston, #RibbleValley, #SouthRibble, #Warton, #WyreAndGarstang

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Ongoing case; Nicola Bulley

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen a week ago (January 27th 2023) walking next to the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire. Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog, Willow, near the River Wyre after dropping her two children off at primary school. The spaniel was found about 25 minutes after Ms Bulley was last seen by another dog walker at approximately 09:10 GMT.

A major search for Ms Bulley has been continuing, involving police divers, drones and a helicopter - but as yet, nothing has been found to explain her disappearance. Lancashire Police believe she may have fallen in the river. But Ms Bulley's sister, Louise Cunningham, urged people to "keep an open mind" about what might have happened, insisting there was "no evidence whatsoever" that she had fallen into the river. In a post on Facebook, she said: "Please keep sharing my Nikki", adding that suggestions she had fallen into the river were "just a theory".

Ms Bulley's friend, Emma White, said police were working on extracting data from Ms Bulley's Fitbit watch. "The Fitbit had not been synced since Tuesday," she said, adding: "The police are trying other ways to try to get information from it."

On Saturday, police released an image of a potential witness who was seen in the area at the time.

Police searching for Nicola Bulley have said they want to trace a “key witness” who was seen pushing a pram in the area near where the dog walker went missing. CCTV images have been released of a woman, dressed in a yellow coat and pushing a pram, who was in St Michael’s on Wyre on the morning of 27 January, when the 45-year-old mortgage adviser was last seen.

The woman was seen walking along Garstang Road/Blackpool Lane in the village of St Michael’s, from the direction of Allotment Lane towards the Grapes pub, at about 8.22am. She is again seen walking on Allotment Lane towards Garstang Road just under 20 minutes later.

A Lancashire police spokesperson said: “It is believed that the female in question may have walked along the river path during these times and so detectives want to speak to her and urge her to get in touch.”

Ms Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, said he would "never lose hope" of finding her.

Police have urged locals to look out along the river for clothing that Ms Bulley was last seen wearing. This included an ankle-length black, quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, black jeans, green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and the Fitbit, which is pale blue.

Timeline of events

08:43 - Ms Bulley walked along the path by the River Wyre, having dropped her children off at school

08:47 - A dog walker, who knows Ms Bulley, saw her walking along the lower field.

08:53 - Ms Bulley sent an email to her boss

09:01 - She logged into a Teams call

09:10 - A witness, who knows Ms Bulley, saw her on the upper field walking with her dog Willow

09:20 - Police inquiries suggest her phone was on the bench

09:30 - The Teams call ended but she stayed logged on

About 09:35 - Ms Bulley's mobile phone and Willow were found at a riverside bench

[suevincent]

St Michael's-on-Wyre...

*** I first visited St Michael’s-on-Wyre over forty-five years ago. I was around eight or nine years old at the time and we called in on the way back from a day on Beacon Fell. Something about the memory of the visit, at the end of a long, enjoyable but, very tiring day, stayed with me and twelve or so years later, on a bike ride to Garstang, this time alone, I called in again. The feeling was…

[jrpneblog]

Suddenly Last Summer

As the 2021-22 season finished the work began behind the scenes at Deepdale to try and market a big Summer campaign to bring the fans back to Deepdale. Season ticket prices were slashed and the fans bought in big time to the brave new dawn the club were trying to portray, 70,000 leaflets were printed and distributed to all address in PR1 and PR2, with 13,000+ of those being delivered by the fans themselves. "Play your part" was the slogan and how the North End fans responded. Supporters from Clitheroe, Chorley, Hesketh Bank, Kirkham, Garstang, Leyland, Farington, Longridge, Bamber Bridge, Wyre, St Annes, Lytham and of course all the outer lying districts of Preston played their part. Businesses, too, got on board sending out leaflets with orders urging North End fans to jump on the bandwagon and make Deepdale a place to be feared.

The Ryan Lowe factor was still high and the managers stock had barely diminished despite a very poor finish to the previous season. North End went to Spain for a pre-season training camp and 350+ North End fans went with them for a bit of a beano in Benidorm and to watch the friendly which had been arranged against Getafe. The club was buzzing and with promises of investment things finally started to head in the right direction.

However it wasnt long before things started to go downhill a little. Cameron Archer chose Middlesbrough above North End when the club said they had matched Boro`s offer. Instead we got Troy Parrott from Spurs on a season long loan along with Alvaro Fernandez from Manchester United also on a season loan. We started the season with two 0-0 draws against Wigan and Hull before thrashing Huddersfield in the first round of the League Cup. A win at Luton via a Brad Potts goal of the season set us on our way, or at least I thought it had. Two more 0-0 draws at home against Rotherham and Watford started the worry beads to begin forming and after going out of the League Cup 1-2 at Wolves in the second round North End drew 0-0 at Cardiff before winning at Coventry 1-0. Still a decent start but very few goals from the team. We only played three games in September all of which were at home with defeats to Birmingham and Sheffield United split by a decent 1-1 draw against the eventual Champions, Burnley. The Autumn had arrived and North End started the month well with another 0-0 at Sunderland followed by a home win against West Brom and one of the performances of the season away at Norwich winning 3-2.

A 1-2 defeat at Bristol followed by a 0-2 defeat against Stoke at Deepdale which set us back a bit but we won 1-0 at lowly Huddersfield before losing the big game at Blackpool 2-4 in a feisty affair. We were still doing ok and two home wins on the trot against Swansea and Boro put us back up there. We then went to Reading on a Friday night and won 2-1, a result that put us right up with the play off group. However the win against Swansea on November 1st was to be our last league win at Deepdale until February 25th as our home form collapsed over the winter. After the Reading game, Millwall beat us 2-4 at home in the last game before the month off for the world Cup.

We came back on the 10th of December at Ewood and massacred Rovers 4-1 with six first team players missing for various reasons. After that win at Blackburn things went down hill again. Home defeats to QPR followed by a shocker of a home defeat against Huddersfield on Boxing Day mad it a grim Xmas for North End fans. A 0-2 defeat at West Brom three days later signalled the start of the mummering's on the terraces about the ability of the squad and of Ryan Lowes capabilities. Fortunately we won at Stoke 1-0 in the first game of 2023 and knocked Huddersfield out of the Cup at Deepdale in the 3rd round by 3-1. Liam Delap and Tommy Cannon, both forwards, then joined us for the rest of the season in a bid to boost our faltering form. A 0-4 battering by Norwich, at Deepdale, the week after didn`t help Ryan Lowe`s cause but Home is where the heart is and even though we went to Birmingham the following week and won 2-1 the home form was disintegrating.

We then drew Tottenham in the fourth round of the Cup at Deepdale and in front of the cameras and a big crowd we went in level at half time. However in the second half we were outclassed, lost 0-3, and what hurt North End fans the most was the fact that we kept trying to defend and at no point in the game did we give it a go. Unlike Sheffield United who knocked out Spurs later in the competition. The following week Bristol City came to Deepdale and won 1-2 putting the manager under some pressure. The crowd started to get on the back of the manager and he didn`t like it. Words were exchanged at the end of the game and the Ryan Lowe factor was dive bombing after a generally awful Winter at Deepdale. A total battering at Burnley a week later didn't help things with North End lucky to lose by only three goals. A 1-1 draw against Luton at home followed which didn`t help the cause a great deal but was an improved performance. We then went to Hull and drew 0-0 in a game we were very lucky to get a point from.

Crunch time had arrived with a home game against bottom three side Wigan. I honestly believe to this day that if we had lost that game Ryan Lowe would have been sacked. Fortunately we won 2-1, our first win at home in the league since the start of November. A midweek draw at home to Coventry 0-0 was another decent performance followed by a 0-0 draw away at Watford in a game we really should have won. A 2-0 win at Home to Cardiff followed by a 2-1 win on the Tuesday night at Rotherham lifted us up the table but on the Saturday we went to Middlesbrough and got battered 4-0 with the manager making some dubious tactical decisions.

It was the big one next with Blackpool at home in an early kick off. North End comfortably gained revenge for the defeat at Bloomfield Road winning 3-1 and putting us within touching distance of the play offs. A 2-0 win at QPR on Good Friday followed by a 2-1 home win against Reading on Easter Monday had us in joint sixth position outside of the play offs on goal difference. We had 62 points with five games to go and it looked like 72 was the target. We now all know that we would have needed only 70 with our poor goal difference to get in the top six with five games to get them in.

Three of the final five games were away from Deepdale so it would be a tough ask but still achievable. First up was Millwall away and a game that a point from would not have been a disaster. We lost 0-2 with a performance not in keeping with a team hunting for a play off spot. We then went to Swansea in a must win game. The manager got it all wrong playing 3-4-1-2 with Ledson and Whiteman as the middle two. Swansea swamped us in the first half and led 0-3 at the break. We pulled two back going 4-3-3 after the break but after a melee on the touchline late on the Swans got a fourth and that was that. If you had told me that after losing these two games we would still only be two points from the play offs I would have laughed but that was the case. Next up was a huge game at home against Blackburn and a must win for North End. After a decent first half Rovers dictated play and scored with ten minutes to go. Lady luck was on our side though and a deflected Delap shot in the 93rd minute gave us a point. Two games to go and the equation was quite simple. We had to win them both to stand a chance. Sheffield United away proved a bridge too far and even allowing for the fact that the home side had been celebrating promotion for three days we were still walloped 1-4 after leveling the game on the hour. The dream was over and all that was left was to recover some pride in the final home game against Sunderland. We couldn`t even do that with the Black Cats easily rolling us over 0-3 to leave our points tally from the last five games of the season at just one point.

it was an appalling finish to the campaign by North End and just what effect that and the poor home form in the Winter will have on season ticket sales for next term we will just have to wait and see. We look like we have owners who only want to sell at their price and who are not prepared to invest above keeping the club afloat. Im still with the manager but only just and with a poor start to the campaign next season I could see the possibility of Ryan Lowe being an early managerial casualty. The buzz has gone from that heady Summer twelve months ago and it will take a monumental shift in club strategy to get that level of support and buy in back. If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. I passionately hope we have good news coming out of Deepdale over the Summer but I am not holding my breath as we have seen it all before so many, many times. We say it every Summer but there is much work to do at Deepdale and only three months to do it in. No doubt most of us will be back because we dont choose who support, its an accident of birth. If only the club shared the fans passion and ambition.

.

JR`s HIGH FIVES

Well Swansea did beat West Brom on Monday giving us a return of £16

SEASONS STATS - Final Total

Returns £216.51 Stake £190.00

Percentage profit+/-loss + 13.95%

Predictions 38 won 19 lost 19.

Final percentage profit was 13.95% - now where can you get that tax free return these days?!

Have a great Summer and I will see you in August

JR

[jhamazamnews-blog]

Nicola Bulley: Police release image of new witness they want to speak to after disappearance of dog walker | UK News

Lancashire Police have released a picture of a potential further witness they want to speak to in the search for 45-year-old Nicola Bulley. Officers said they believe “the woman (pictured) was in the area at the time”. Ms Bulley was last seen on Friday at around 9.15am on a footpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. Her mobile phone was found…

[actu24hp]

Nicola Bulley: Maison "abandonnée" près de l'endroit où la mère disparue a disparu lors d'une promenade de chien fouillée par les sauveteurs

Une maison inoccupée a été fouillée dans le cadre de la chasse à la mère disparue Nicola Bulley. Le téléphone de la femme de 45 ans a été retrouvé près de la maison après sa disparition lors d’une conférence téléphonique. 5 La maman a disparu depuis vendrediCrédit : Instagram Vendredi, la mère a disparu alors qu’elle promenait son chien près de la rivière Wyre près de Garstang Road à St…

[imperium-romanum]

By BRIAN ELLIS

“A centuries old riddle has been solved after amateur archaeologists unearthed a “missing” Roman road in a farmer’s field.”

“The location of the 2,000-year-old highway had mystified historians for almost two centuries until a team of enthusiasts found the “remarkably well-preserved” thoroughfare during a dig at Bilsborrow near Garstang.”

Continue reading

[tasksweekly]

[TASK 188: MARSHALL ISLANDS]

There’s a masterlist below compiled of over 60+ Marshallese faceclaims categorised by gender with their occupation and ethnicity denoted if there was a reliable source. If you want an extra challenge use random.org to pick a random number! Of course everything listed below are just suggestions and you can pick whichever faceclaim or whichever project you desire.

Any questions can be sent here and all tutorials have been linked below the cut for ease of access! REMEMBER to tag your resources with #TASKSWEEKLY and we will reblog them onto the main! This task can be tagged with whatever you want but if you want us to see it please be sure that our tag is the first five tags, @ mention us or send us a messaging linking us to your post!

THE TASK - scroll down for FC’s!

STEP 1: Decide on a FC you wish to create resources for! You can always do more than one but who are you starting with? There are links to masterlists you can use in order to find them and if you want help, just send us a message and we can pick one for you at random!

STEP 2: Pick what you want to create! You can obviously do more than one thing, but what do you want to start off with? Screencaps, RP icons, GIF packs, masterlists, PNG’s, fancasts, alternative FC’s - LITERALLY anything you desire!

STEP 3: Look back on tasks that we have created previously for tutorials on the thing you are creating unless you have whatever it is you are doing mastered - then of course feel free to just get on and do it. :)

STEP 4: Upload and tag with #TASKSWEEKLY! If you didn’t use your own screencaps/images make sure to credit where you got them from as we will not reblog packs which do not credit caps or original gifs from the original maker.

THINGS YOU CAN MAKE FOR THIS TASK -  examples are linked!

Stumped for ideas? Maybe make a masterlist or graphic of your favourite faceclaims. A masterlist of names. Plot ideas or screencaps from a music video preformed by an artist. Masterlist of quotes and lyrics that can be used for starters, thread titles or tags. Guides on culture and customs.

Screencaps

RP icons [of all sizes]

Gif Pack [maybe gif icons if you wish]

PNG packs

Manips

Dash Icons

Character Aesthetics

PSD’s

XCF’s

Graphic Templates - can be chara header, promo, border or background PSD’s!

FC Masterlists - underused, with resources, without resources!

FC Help - could be related, family templates, alternatives.

Written Guides.

and whatever else you can think of / make!

MASTERLIST!

F:

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (1988) Marshallese - spoken word artist and poet.

Billma Peter (1996) Marshallese - model and Miss Marshall Islands 2019.

Netha Gideon (?) Marshallese - actress.

Lulani Ritok (?) Marshallese - actress and composer.

Tolfina Fakatou (?) Marshallese - actress.

Abacca Anjain-Maddison (?) Marshallese - actress.

Nica Wase (?) Marshallese - actress and composer.

Martha Horiuchi (?) Marshallese - actress.

Billma Melson (?) Marshallese - actress.

Vivian Niedenthal (?) Marshallese - actress.

Karen Earnshaw (?) Marshallese - actress and director.

Magdalene Johnson (?) Marshallese - actress.

F - Athletes:

Haley Nemra (1989) Marshallese - middle-distance runner.

Julianne Kirchner (1991) Marshallese - swimmer.

Sidra Triplett (1994) Marshallese - volleyball player.

Neikormo Lanki-Nimoto (1995) Marshallese - basketball player.

Ann-Marie Hepler (1996) Marshallese - swimmer.

Mattie Sasser (1996) Marshallese - weightlifter.

Colleen Furgeson (1998) Marshallese - swimmer.

Mariana Cress (1998) Marshallese - sprinter.

Tamara Andrike (2001) Marshallese - basketball player.

Naupaka Ackley (2001) Marshallese - basketball player.

Joy Ratidara (2002) Marshallese - basketball player.

Darcyann Muller (?) Marshallese - volleyball player.

Aliyah Brown (?) Marshallese - volleyball player.

Carolyn Hone (?) Marshallese - volleyball player.

Angelina John (?) Marshallese - volleyball player.

M:

Niten Anni (?) Marshallese - actor and composer.

Lyel Tarkwon (?) Marshallese - actor and composer.

Jefferson Paulis (?) Marshallese - actor.

Ben Debrum Wakefield (?) Marshallese - actor and filmmaker.

Randon Jack (?) Marshallese - actor.

Jukulius Niedenthal (?) Marshallese - actor and producer.

Iohaan Anjolok (?) Marshallese - actor.

Naiko Jashua (?) Marshallese - actor.

Lucus Niedenthal (?) Marshallese - actor and composer.

Jollie Batlok (?) Marshallese - actor.

Lyle Yamane (?) Marshallese - actor.

Yasta Bolkheim (?) Marshallese - actor.

Arelong Simon (?) Marshallese - actor.

Maxter Tarkwon (?) Marshallese - actor.

Wyre Kimej (?) Marshallese - actor.

Lobie Ben (?) Marshallese - actor.

Nicholas Kirby (?) Marshallese - actor.

M - Athletes:

Todd Lyght (1969) Marshallese - football player.

Waylon Muller (1972) Marshallese - wrestler.

Roman Cress (1977) Marshallese / Unspecified White - sprinter.

Mau Penisula (1979) Marshallese / Tuvaluan - footballer.

West Nott (1982) Marshallese - tennis player.

Jared Heine (1984) Marshallese - swimmer.

Anju Jason (1987) Marshallese - taekwondo practitioner.

Timi Garstang (1987) Marshallese - sprinter.

Michael Taylor (1989) Marshallese - swimmer.

Lani Ackley (1992) Marshallese - basketball player.

Giordan Harris (1993) Marshallese - swimmer.

Kabuati Bob (1994) Marshallese - weightlifter.

Jeki Lanki (1995) Marshallese - sprinter.

Halber Pinho (1995) Marshallese - basketball player.

Daniel Langinbelik (1996) Marshallese - swimmer.

Richson Simeon (1997) Marshallese - sprinter.

Joshua Ralpho (?) Marshallese - weightlifter.

Sione Aho (?) Marshallese - shot putter.

Frederick Kurn (?) Marshallese - basketball player.

Mike Riklon (?) Marshallese - weightlifter.

Jason Sam (?) Marshallese - taekwondo practitioner.

Robert Case (?) Marshallese - basketball player.’

[anumberofhobbies]

Lockdown, Staying Sane & Footpaths

“Yes, with the 3rd Lockdown in England well underway, I thought it would be a good time to bring back the 'Walkabout' videos from the 1st Lockdown.

In this video, I firstly stroll through Garstang in Lancashire, where after buying a latte, I take a walk along a footpath I've never explored before - only to find my progress halted soon after, by a large excavator.

Undeterred, I continue along the Lancaster Canal towpath for a short while and walk carefully down the frozen steps of the Wyre Aqueduct and proceed along the River Wyre, where I soon join another footpath which eventually leads me to the large River Wyre Flood Barrier.

En-route, I discuss how I'm managing (so far) to keep sane throughout this continuing uncertainty, including discussing my dietary choices . . . “

[stevenmarkkayworld]

Garstang Garstang, a beautiful and quintessential English market town is pretty much the hub in, 'Pebbles, love across the Morecambe Bay.' It is situated on the banks of the River Wyre.

[sandinz]

Rather than our previously planned almost five weeks of pottering on this charming waterway, unexpected events dictated we’d instead experience just short of three weeks – from 29th May to 17th June.

When I say ‘we’, in reality Barry relished three days short of three weeks, while I managed to squeeze in a measly eight days. Was it worth it you may ask?

Of course! Every inland waterway in the UK is worth visiting. Needing some planning and booking (as we’ve discovered!) to access, this is unfortunately one of the ‘canals less travelled’ on the system – we feel it’s definitely worth going to of your way for. A bit like Barry’s home town of Gisborne – remote – but that may be one of the reasons it’s so serene and special!

Once again this post’s a mixture of Barry’s and my words – but all the pictures are his Inspirational Images.

The Lancaster Canal had been on our ‘waterways bucket-list’ for a number of years, and we were determined to embrace whatever opportunity we had to see it. At a mere 41 miles long (and lock-free once you’re off Savick Brook which was widened to connect the Lancaster Canal to the River Ribble in order to open the Ribble Link in 2002), it doesn’t take too long to travel the length and breadth of it.

It can proudly boast the accolade of being the longest lock-free canal in the country – leisurely cruising and chilling is the order of the day in this delightful part of the country.

Admittedly we experienced a few irritating challenges too. Like the reality of the reported sparse mooring availability as most of the sides are extremely shallow; but also around the more scenic areas, suitable spaces seemed to be mostly taken up by long-term moorings which was frustrating at times.

On a brighter note, there’s a number of pleasant places to meander around along the way …

Gorgeous Garstang

The remains of Greenhaigh Castle on the hill as you approach Garstang

Garstang (purportedly ‘The World’s fist Fair Trade Town’), is a popular mooring stop, with a lovely shopping area containing plenty of quirky shops, and a couple of welcome supermarkets.

John Rennie’s aqueduct (started 1792) over the Wyre River at Garstang. Very similar but earlier and smaller design to his Dundas Aqueduct (started 1794) on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Garstang town centre

Lush surroundings in Lancaster

This time of year in England was the perfect season to languish in these surroundings, with the foliage in full magnificence.

Magical.

I’m sure you’ll concur from the images below that the lighting amongst the lush greenery was quite spectacular.

The beautiful Ellel Grange Bridge just before the turnoff to Glasson Docks, which we explore on the return journey

Approaching Lancaster the canal winds through a deep and very green cutting, emerging on the outskirts of the city itself

Lancaster Castle – which until 2011 it was still used as a jail; the barbed wire, visiting hours sign, etc, all remain for posterity

Affectionately (!) known as ‘The Hanging Town’, Lancaster has apparently strung up more people than anywhere else in the UK – not to mention the many jailed for life or transported to Australia.

On his first evening in Lancaster, Barry took a walk around this fine city and captured a few of the older buildings in the centre, taking a veritable collage of unusual windows, doors, and fine architectural nuances. What a surprisingly fabulous and  fascinating place.

Barry moored up in Lancaster not far from the infamous Water Witch pub, which many years ago was the stables for the horses who hauled the fast boats between Preston and Kendal. Happening to be fortuitous enough to be in the vicinity for their quiz night, he teamed up with cajoled Carol and Colin into participating; a couple of locals who thought they were just there for a quiet drink. They informed him they were rubbish at quizzes, and were right – their ‘team’ came second last!

However …

Carol went on to win the prize draw and successfully completed the ‘Guess Your Cards Right‘ round, to win the jackpot of £210.00 – of which she insisted Barry got a third. How wonderful. Very nice thank you Carol – he reports that he’s since then invested the cash wisely on alcohol! (addendum from Sandra – he wishes!).

One of the unique aspects of this canal is that for a while it almost hugs the coast – though to be perfectly honest the views weren’t as spectacular as we’d anticipated or been led to believe.  Especially when the tide was low, as the ocean’s then a considerable distance away. There’s  warnings aplenty about quicksand and fast-moving tides where Barry managed to moor briefly at Hest Bank.

A few minutes walk from the canal you can view Morecombe Bay at Hest Bank. Here it was full of water at high tide. In the following post there’ll be considerably less!

Splendid mooring spot outside the Canal Turn pub

Barry did a bit of trading outside the fabulous Canal Turn Pub at Carnforth, with new owners Bill and Victoria going out of their way to give punters a great experience. They were astonishingly welcoming of The Home Brew Boat trading, even going so far as to post a photo of us on their Facebook page. They also bought a few canal greeting cards.

If you’re passing – call in, Barry highly recommends the establishment and feels sure it’ll go from strength to strength.

Going quackers

This year we’ve started selling duck food from the boat. Watching so many people thoughtlessly feeding ducks, swans and geese bread, we wanted to do our bit for nature.

Along with a stapled bag of high quality duck food, Sandra shares a leaflet containing information she’s discovered explaining WHY it’s best not to feed them bread:

“Bread has no nutritional value. To ducks it’s a ‘junk’ food – filling them up with carbohydrates and consequently stopping them from foraging for food that DOES provide what they need.

Rotting bread also makes ducks sick, contributes to algae growth, which kills animals, and attracts vermin, which spread disease to birds and humans.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED BREAD TO DUCKS/SWANS/GEESE

For more information, check out the links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKzPw9lzshc

https://www.popsci.com/feeding-ducks-bread

What foods CAN you feed ducks? ~ Kale ~ Lettuce (cut up) ~ Corn (canned, frozen or fresh) ~ Peas (as above) ~ Seeds (not apple or cherry) ~ Porridge oats ~ Rice (cooked) ~ Cherry tomatoes (cut up) ~ Flowers – dandelions, pansies, clover ~ Fruit (not citrus) – especially apples cut up, banana chips (broken up) ~ Cat and dog food   Foods to avoid: X BREAD –of any type X Junk food X Avocados or onions are toxic to ducks X Citrus fruit X Nuts X Chocolate X Popcorn X Carbonated drinks X Alcohol!!”

Barry befriended a local female mallard. This duck would have to be the friendliest one we’ve ever met. She had no fear and you could even pat her. It did help of course that we had some particularly tasty duck food on offer!

Our new poster girl! (Amazing how a bag of duck food overcomes any model rights)

Venturing to the most northerly point of the English canal system

Barry had the good fortune to be able to travel all the way to the end of the Lancaster Canal at Tewitfield, having been joined at the Canal Turn pub by Jim (ex nb Starcross) and his wife Hilary, along with her spritely 94 year-old mum Jean for the journey. Jim wrote a blog about their experience.

Touching the end of the canal with the front fender

Jim drove all the way there and back, with Barry suspecting at one point he detected a tiny tear of nostalgia.

As it’s the furthermost north canal on the linked system, He felt it important to photograph the ‘touch the end of the canal with the front fender’ shot, just to prove we’d finally done it and have Jim there as an ‘Expert Witness’!

This particular journey up the Lancaster was taken with Barry on board Areandare, while Sandra was on a planned week away in Menorca with my daughter and grandsons.

There’s lots more fabulous memories to share of our journey from Carnforth back to the Ribble Link, including a side-trip to Glasson Docks – in the next post!

Where are we in ‘real time’?

John and Angela joined us in Wigan for an overnight stay and morning cruise with three locks

We’ve cruised from Tarleton to Worsley since we returned on the Link Sunday 17th June, heading to Manchester for the weekend where we have kiwi guests jumping on board. we even had some surprise visitors yesterday from Australia, originally from Hawkes Bay in New Zealand.

  Thank goodness we chose to travel to new vistas and not trade this year. Our income from floating markets and festivals may be drastically reduced, but we feel incredibly rich in relishing life and all it has to offer. And we hope to be running Calendar Club in Lichfield again from October to January, so we don’t feel that ‘pressure’ to do the same old, same old anymore.

By the way, if any boaters are considering applying for Calendar Club this year, here’s the link.

Our long awaited enchanting journey on the Lancaster Canal Rather than our previously planned almost five weeks of pottering on this charming waterway, unexpected events…

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Nicola Bulley investigation: The six unanswered questions

The search for missing mum Nicola Bulley has now entered its 12th day with still no real clues as what has happened to the mother-of-two. Despite extensive searches of the river and surrounding area no trace of the 45-year-old who was walking her dog after the school run has been discovered.

Her phone was left on a bench never the River Wyre in Lancashire and her dog Willow was found nearby. Police officers said they are working on the theory that the 45-year-old , who has been described by friends as a strong swimmer, fell into the river, but that line of investigation has been questioned by friends and family. Lancashire Police has consistently said there are no signs of any third-party involvement in her disappearance.

Here are 6 questions that need to be explained.

1. The lack of CCTV

There were images of Nicola shared from her own door bell camera that showed her packing up the car ready for the school run, but there is a lack of CCTV from the towpath area. The CCTV camera at a residential park on the upper field of the path had one camera not working. If it had been working it would likely have been able to pick up what happened around the bench.

Superintendent Sally Riley says: "Several exits of the riverside area have CCTV covering them or exits are locked and therefore couldn't have been passed through by Nicola. There's only a very small area onto Garstang Lane toward the A586 which is not covered by CCTV and that's why we're appealing today for dashcam footage or for people who may have been walking on Garstang Lane or driving in the area to come forward if they can."

2. The 10 minutes not accounted for

Lancashire Police has said there are 10 minutes they cannot account for, between the last sighting of Nicola at 9.10am and 9.20am, when Nicola's phone was found on a bench still connected to the work call she was on.

On Tuesday (February 7) police gave up update on timings:

8.26am Nicola left her home address with her children

8.40am Nicola dropped her children off at school

8.43am seen on the river path towards the gate and bench on lower field

8.47am someone who knows Nicola saw her with dog, and the two dogs briefly interacted

8.53am she sent email to her boss

8.59am she sent message to a friend

9.01am she logged onto a teams call

9.10am last confirmed sighting of Nicola

9.20am Her phone was located on the bench

9.30am teams call ended

9.33am Nicola's phone and dog were found by a witness 

3. Why no one saw anything

Police have revealed that more than 700 drivers are being approached in the hope they can offer clues in the search. Police are speaking to hundreds who travelled through the town of St Michael’s on Wyre around the time Nicola went missing.

A team of 40 detectives are currently investigating approximately 500 different lines of enquiry. At a press conference, Lancashire Police Supt Sally Riley said: ‘We have now identified around 700 vehicles that drove through the village on that morning on the 27th January at around 9.10am - 9.15am.

"We are in the process of speaking to all of those drivers to try and find out if they have any dashcam footage, what they saw on that day or anything else that may be of value to the police inquiry."

4. Question over the river

According to forensic search expert Peter Faulding, the part of the river where Nicola was last seen is not fast-moving. He has described it as 'black murky water' that can be difficult to see in.

He told the Blackpool Gazette: "It's not a fast tidal river. It's around two or three metres deep, but there are a lot of shallows."

Mr Faulding said he would have to check for any drains in the riverbed while re-checking all areas already probed by police., adding: '"You can search one day and the body can move down from another location so everything has got to be rechecked."

Superintendent Sally Riley, who is leading investigation, described the river as a "complex" area to search. She told a press conference on Tuesday: "It is not a still water it is a fast flowing moving water which is tidal in parts. This makes it particularly complex. We have already discounted particular areas of the river but as they are tidal we have re-searched them to make sure nothing has been washed back into those search areas.”

5. Why the area around the bench has not been cordoned off

Police reconfirmed on Tuesday that their belief remains that "Nicola sadly fell into the river, and this is a missing person enquiry."

Supt Riley said: "We believe Nicola remained in the riverside area." She added that the search was being extended out to the sea due to the nature of the river.

6. Why the phone was left on a bench

When Nicola's phone was found on a bench near to where she was last seen it was still dialled in to a work call and was alongside Willow's harness. Some people have suggested that she left it there to deal with something, with the aim of coming back to it once it was over.

Mr Faulding did say that the phone may have been left behind as a 'decoy' by a 'third party' involved in the disappearance. This comes after he noted that had she fallen in the water, her dog Willow - who was found at the scene - would have caused a disturbance.

[jaigeddes]

Highways England unveils £100m Lancashire bypass plan

Highways England has revealed its preferred route for a new £100m dual carriageway along the A585 near Poulton-le-Fylde  in Lancashire.

Work to construct the 2.7 mile Windy Harbour to Skippool section, which is one of the busiest and most congested along the 11.5 mile road, could start in early 2020, subject to a statutory consultation.

The announcement follows last year’s consultation – in which 78 percent of people and both Fylde and Wyre councils backed the bypass option over an alternative to improve the existing single carriageway road.

  Highways England project manager David Hopkin said: “We are delighted to announce we have decided to take the Southern Bypass option forward.

“It was comfortably the most popular option in a consultation in which almost everyone agreed that something needs to be done about congestion along this section of the A585.”

The new road will help secure and improve opportunities for housing and jobs in this part of Lancashire and contribute to improved connections to the whole of the motorway network.

Highways England also revealed it was continuing to consider options for the Garstang New Road junction.

Another idea to link the new bypass to Shard Road which was raised by local people during the consultation will also be investigated.

[ndbasilica]

Highways England unveils £100m Lancashire Bypass plan

Highways England has revealed its preferred route for a new £100m dual carriageway along the A585 near Poulton-le-Fylde  in Lancashire.

Work to construct the 2.7 mile Windy Harbour to Skippool section, which is one of the busiest and most congested along the 11.5 mile road, could start in early 2020, subject to a statutory consultation.

The announcement follows last year’s consultation – in which 78 percent of people and both Fylde and Wyre councils backed the bypass option over an alternative to improve the existing single carriageway road.

  Highways England project manager David Hopkin said: “We are delighted to announce we have decided to take the Southern Bypass option forward.

“It was comfortably the most popular option in a consultation in which almost everyone agreed that something needs to be done about congestion along this section of the A585.”

The new road will help secure and improve opportunities for housing and jobs in this part of Lancashire and contribute to improved connections to the whole of the motorway network.

Highways England also revealed it was continuing to consider options for the Garstang New Road junction.

Another idea to link the new bypass to Shard Road which was raised by local people during the consultation will also be investigated.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/10/25/highways-england-unveils-100m-lancashire-bypass-plan/

[jhamazamnews-blog]

Nicola Bulley: Missing dog walker would 'never leave her two girls', says friend | UK News

A missing mother-of-two who vanished while walking her dog would never leave her children, a family friend has said. Nicola Bulley was last seen on Friday at around 9.15am on a towpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. Her mobile phone was found on a bench nearby and was still connected to a conference call when it was spotted. Ms Bulley’s…

[jhamazamnews-blog]

Major search for missing 45-year-old who vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire | UK News

A major search is under way to find a 45-year-old woman from Inskip, Lancashire, who vanished while walking her dog. Nicola Bulley was last seen two days ago – on Friday 27 January – at around 9.15am on a footpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre. Emergency crews including Lancashire Police, Lancashire Fire and Rescue, Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue team…