An Australian Summer

TODAY'S EDITION OF 'FOX TOWER is all about Summer. Yes Summer is here at last! Well, at least if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, it is. Three - sorry, four - people enjoying the Summer in Sydney, Australia, are my feature today.

First is Mella, featured in the photograph on the left, in her role as the Prom Queen. Mella is a citizen of Sydney, a city she loves, as you will find in her MySpace webpage, which you can visit here.

Second is Miss Stine Slettemark, who is living in Sydney whilst she is studying a Tourism course at college in the city. Stine has her home in Oslo, Norway, a city which takes on a much different appearance to Sydney at this time of year, a fact not lost by Stine, as her blog on her Windows Live Space shows. Visit Miss Slettemark's webpage by clicking here.

Greetings to my cousin, Sarah Cowin and her partner Dave, who are also in Sydney. They have travelled from the cold, wet, UK, to Sydney, where, in a letter home recently, Sarah also found the summer weather a shock to the system, saying she kind of missed the cold and rain which is constant here in the UK at this time of year!! Sarah & Dave report they have secured accommodation and employment, close to the harbour, with views of the World-famous Opera House. After their stint in Sydney, Sarah & Dave plan to travel to Perth, Western Australia, but that is in the near future. This is Sarah's second visit to Australia, her previous visit was a decade ago, December 1996. How time passes...!

Wallpaper Of The Week

TODAY'S WALLPAPER is a photograph I took on the evening of April 10th 2006, as the Northern Rail evening service was passing Garsdale, heading north to Kirkby Stephen. Enjoy...

And Finally... An Eventful 2006...

Missed the chaos? Fat chance!

TRAFFIC was brought to a standstill after a wagon spilled cooking oil all over the road.

The lorry was driving along Marina Way, in Hartlepool, when its side door suddenly opened, causing several barrels to fall into the road. Traffic chaos quickly followed and at least two accidents were caused by cars skidding on the oil. The lorry driver, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s just an accident. I didn’t mean for it to happen. “The clip on the side door has broken off, so the side door came up. “The first right hand turn I took, the barrels tipped out, and when I looked in my side mirror I could just see them coming out.” The driver of the Eden Valley Oils wagon was turning right into Middleton Road when the barrels full of used cooking oil spilled out. Two fire engines attended the scene at around 1.15pm yesterday and firefighters closed the road and worked to remove the oil. Watch manager at Stranton Fire Station Barry Waites said: “I believe there were a couple of minor bumps as a result. “Our job was to remove the oil from the road surface. “We use something called elcef fibres and we brush them into the road. It’s also used in petrol spillages as well. “We also used two tonnes of sand from the council.” The affected area was temporarily made a 20mph speed limit zone in a bid to prevent any further accidents. Buses, meanwhile, were diverted along Lancaster Road and Clarence Road.

16 November 2006, The Hartlepool Mail.
Nobody was hurt, so at least those of us in the know (no names!) can raise a smile, I guess...

If you would like to leave a comment, please do so below, or to take the opportunity to E-Mail me, click here.

Finally, finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year and say if you make a wish this New Year, I hope your wish comes true!

God Save The Queen

1. God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us;

God save the Queen!

2. O Lord our God arise,

Scatter her enemies

And make them fall;

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save us all!

3. Thy choicest gifts in store

On her be pleased to pour;

Long may she reign;

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice,

God save the Queen!

4. Not in this land alone,

But be God's mercies known,

From shore to shore!

Lord make the nations see,

That men should brothers be,

And form one family,

The wide world over.

5. From every latent foe,

From the assassins blow,

God save the Queen!

O'er her thine arm extend,

For Britain's sake defend,

Our mother, prince, and friend,

God save the Queen!

6. Lord grant that Marshal Wade

May by thy mighty aid

Victory bring.

May he sedition hush,

And like a torrent rush,

Rebellious Scots to crush.

God save the King!

Want to go Digital? Play the game...

I MAY HAVE POSTED this before, but the boffins at BBC Research & Development have come up with a game, in which your challenge is to switch all the analogue main TV stations [transmitters] to digital. Do have a go, it's great fun (well, for a media anorak like I am, I think so).

To Download and play the Switchover Challenge Game, click here.

For the Game Instructions, click here.

Do let me know how you get on, leave a comment at the bottom of this post or email me.

A Cumbrian At Christmas


LAST CHRISTMAS was the first posting of 'A Cumbrian At Christmas', in which Reporting From The Fox Tower featured the Cumbrian television actress Roxanne Pallett (You can find the post in the archives, December 2005).

This year, Reporting From The Fox Tower would like to present Cumbrian singer Amanda Tinkler.

Amanda began singing at events around the Eden area, before applying to compete on the television programme 'Stars In Their Eyes : Kids 2002'. Amanda took part in the show, singing "I'm Like A Bird" by Nelly Furtado. The other contestants on the show that day (September 2002) were performing songs by Annie Oakley, Richie Valens, Charlotte Church and Lulu. A vote taken by the studio audience saw Amanda come out on top, winning her a place in the programme Final, which went on air November 2002. All the contestants had a video of support from their friends aired on the show prior to their performance, Amanda's video featured her friends Lesley Davidson and Stephanie Guy.

In the 'Stars In Their Eyes : Kids Live Final 2002', Amanda once again performed as Nelly Furtado, competing against performers singing songs by Donny Osmond, Irene Cara, Eva Cassidy, Millie and Robbie Williams. The competition was open to a public vote, which saw Amanda receive 55 638 votes, placing her fourth in the final results. The final was won by Charlotte Gethin, of Staffordshire, performing as Eva Cassidy singing"Over The Rainbow", for which she received 282 422 votes.

Following her appearances on television, Amanda's bookings for performances began to rise, which included her appearing at events as diverse at the Carlisle Sands Centre Senior Citizens Christmas Party and the switching on of the Christmas lights in Kirkby Stephen, both 2002. In 2004 Amanda appeared on the bill at the inaugural 'Pop2ThePark', an all-day music concert at Bitts Park, Carlisle (featured picture).

Most recently, Amanda has performed at the 2005 Whitehaven Maritime Festival and in 2006 featured on the panel of judges for a talent search sponsored by Eddie Stobart, called 'The Stobart Factor'. Amanda's performance highlight of 2006 was when she was on the bill for an inaugural music concert at Brunton Park, Carlisle, sharing the stage with Lulu and Tony Christie at 'Party On The Pitch'.

Wallpaper of the week

Another inauguration for Reporting From The Fox Tower: I'd like to share with you some of my favourite photography, which makes wonderful desktop wallpaper.

I hope you like the following image of Cardiff, a photograph I took April 2006. If you would like to use the image as wallpaper, click on the image below, which will open up to a full size image, save on your computer and then post as your wallpaper. Enjoy!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, have a good one!

711kHz - 837kHz December Medium Wave Round Up

ON SATURDAY 2nd DECEMBER, I spent the late afternoon and evening listening to the Medium Wave band on my Roberts R881 radio, here are the results:

711 kHz 1645 GMT : France - Rennes transmitter, France Info / France Bleu.

720 kHz 1657 GMT : BBC Radio 4 via Lisnagarvey transmitter, Northern Ireland. On the air: 'Weekend Woman's Hour'. Programme webpage - Click here.

729 kHz 1709 GMT : RTE Radio 1 via Cork transmitter, Ireland. RTE webpage - Click here.

738 kHz 1720 GMT : RNE 1 via Barcelona transmitter, Spain. Listen Live to RNE 1 by clicking here. Saturday night is best - Live La Liga football!

747 kHz 1735 GMT : Radio 5 (ex- Radio 747 AM) via Flevoland transmitter, Holland. Webpage - Click here.

756 kHz 1746 GMT : BBC Radio Cumbria via Carlisle transmitter. On the air: 'Saturday Sport'. Webpage - Click here.

756 kHz 1828 GMT : Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Germany. Coverage of the Bundesliga (football). Webpage - Click here.

765 kHz 1953 GMT : Option Musique via Sottens transmitter, Switzerland. Webpage - Click here.

774 kHz 2006 GMT : RNE 1, Spain.

783 kHz 2021 GMT : Radio Mirimar via Barcelona transmitter, Spain. Information webpage - Click here.

783 kHz 2031 GMT : MDR Info via Leipzig transmitter, Germany. Webpage - Click here.

792 kHz 2045 GMT : France Info via Limoges transmitter, France. Webpage - Click here.

792 kHz 2057 GMT : BBC Radio Foyle via Londonderry transmitter, Northern Ireland. Webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2110 GMT : Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR, Bayern) via Munich transmitter, Germany. Webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2122 GMT : BBC Radio Devon via Barnstaple transmitter. On the air: David Lowe 'As Time Goes By'. David Lowe webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2220 GMT : RNE 1, Spain.

810 kHz 2230 GMT : BBC Radio Scotland via Burghead / Westerglen transmitter. Webpage - Click here.

837 kHz 2252 GMT : BBC Radio Cumbria via Barrow in Furness transmitter. On the air: John Caine 'The Rock Show'. John Caine webpage - Click here.

837 kHz 2305 GMT : France Info via Nancy transmitter, France.

Well that's all the radio had to offer on that day, I hope you find it of interest. If so, please leave a comment below, or email me.

Cheers!

Peoples Millions Result!

VIEWERS OF ITV BORDER will have seen the appeal for the Brough Community Fund on 'Lookaround' during the evening of Wednesday 15 November 2006, with the result on Thursday 16th.

I'm pleased to say the Brough Community Fund raised a higher number of votes than the opposing project, a footpath in Brampton. During the day of Thursday 16th, Tim Backshall of ITV Border travelled to Brough to present a cheque for £50 000 to Keren Jane Steadman, Secretary of the Brough Community Fund Committee, and Edward "Chris" Christopher, Chairman, at a packed Brough County Primary School. Well done to all concerned!

The Ashes are GO

THE WINTER 2006 - 07 Ashes series has begun. If I tried to record all the events here, it would definately take a while. Take a look at both sides of the fence, visiting Cricket Australia and England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) by clicking the links provided.

Radio Roundup: November 2006

Shortwave Band:

WWV, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Click here for Time Signal station WWV online. This link plays an audio sample, requires QuickTime Player.

Radio Slovakia International, Bratislava, Slovakia (Central Europe). Click here for Slovak Radio online. Takes you to an intro page, choose English from the toolbar.

China Radio International, Beijing, China. Click here for China Radio International in English language. May ask you to install language packs for simplified Chinese, which I will leave to your own discretion, at your own risk, I accept no responsibility for difficulties thereafter.

Radio Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria. Click here for Radio Bulgaria in English language.

BBC World Service, London, United Kingdom. Click here for the BBC World Service homepage.

"And that concludes this edition of Reporting From The Fox Tower, until next time, goodbye!"

Please Call and Vote!

'06 - '07 : The Season So Far . . . Part 1

WELCOME to The Season So Far - This is where you can keep up to date with the results of Carlisle United Football Club in Coca-Cola League One this season! Here are the results of the first third of the season : August - October 2006. The layout is as follows:

Month/Date - Teams - Result (corresponds with teams) - (Goal Scorer surname) for Carlisle United :

August:

Sat 5th - United v Doncaster Rovers - 1-0 (Paul Murray)

Wed 9th - Chesterfield v United - 0-0

Sat 12th - Yeovil Town v United - 2-1 (Kevin Gall)

Sat 19th - United v Leyton Orient - 3-1 (Gall x2, Karl Hawley)

Tue 22nd - Carling Cup Round One : United v Bradford City - 1-1 (Derek Holmes) - AET: United win 4-3 penalties.

Sun 27th - Oldham Athletic v United - 0-0

September

Sun 3rd - United v Cheltenham Town - 2-0 (Hawley, Gall)

Sat 9th - United v Northampton Town - 1-1 (Hawley)

Tue 12th - Bradford City v United - 1-1 (Chris Lumsdon)

Sat 16th - Nottingham Forest v United - 0-0

Tue 19th - Carling Cup Round Two : Charlton Athletic v United - 1-0

Sat 23rd - United v Brighton & Hove Albion - 3-1 (Hawley, Kevin Gray, Simon Hackney)

Tue 26th - United v Blackpool - 2-0 (Lumsdon, Hawley)

Sat 30th - Crewe Alexandra v United - 5-1 (Hawley)

October

Sat 7th - United v Millwall - 1-2 (Jermaine Beckford)

Sat 14th - Huddersfield Town v United - 2-1 (Hackney)

Tue 17th - Johnstone's Paint Trophy Round One : Accrington Stanley v United - 1-1 (Holmes) - AET: Stanley win 3-1 penalties.

Sat 21st - United v Tranmere Rovers - 1-0 (Gall)

Sat 28th - Gillingham v United - 2-0.

The picture shows United defender Danny Livesey at the Championship presentation night, Brunton Park, May 6th, 2006.

C'mon ye Blues!

Happy Hallowe'en 2006 . . . ?

"TRICK or treat, Mister?!"

"EH? Who the fook are you? Fook off!"

Lombard Rally 2006

THE LOMBARD RALLY 2006 passed through Brough this weekend, so I thought I'd place a couple of pictures taken today to mark the Rally:

The above picture shows a group of cars in Brough late morning as they were on a 'time-out' stage of the rally, the official website of the Lombard Rally 2006 is here.

To prove that rallies are also contested by Ladies, here is the car driven by Becky Kirvan and Amanda Cornforth:


Well, that's all the motoring news for now, happy driving!

One Year On

WELCOME TO the latest instalment of Reporting From The Fox Tower, this edition marks the first anniversary of this journal which passed earlier this month, I hope you will continue to read.

A Friend In France

MAY I introduce my friend Cindy De Delley, who resides in the beautiful city of Nice, in the south of France.

Cindy enjoys travelling, which is part of her employment, Cindy is currently in Colombia, Latin America. Cindy told me Colombia is a nice country, very warm at this time of year, very relaxed people.

Cindy has an online journal which you can access here, in which Cindy tells of her experiences. Please note Cindy's journal is in the French language, which I hope will help with language skills.

Radio Round-up : October '06

RECENTLY I'VE had a spot of bother with my radio, I had a difficulty with which it would not function fully, thankfully I seem to have overcome the problem and I listened to a few broadcasters on the Medium Wave band, which are as follows:

BBC Radio York on 666 kHz (Click here for the BBC York website),
Arrow Classic Rock of The Netherlands on 675 kHz (Click here for the Arrow website),
RNE 1 of Spain on 684 kHz (Click here for the RNE website),
BBC Radio Five Live on 693 kHz (Have your say on the Five Live Message Board here)
and finally for this lot: France Bleu on 711 kHz (click here for the France Bleu website)

Regarding the above websites, the RNE (Radio Nacional Espana) site is in the Spanish language, whilst the France Bleu site is in the French language. I hope you enjoy the links provided!

And Finally . . . Local Link of the Day

A NEW FEATURE is that during my posts I shall try to include at least one link to a website based in the Eden Valley area. For your Spiritual needs, I provide a link to the Brough & Stainmore Parish Churches webpage, which you can visit here. I hope you enjoy the site and I hope to provide another 'Local Link of the Day' in my next post.

Have a cheerful weekend, see you again soon.

Radio Round-up: April - September 2006

HERE is what I have been listening to this summer:

April 2006: MediumWave
1314 kHz - NRK Euuropakanalen, Norway (English website)
1341 kHz - BBC Radio Ulster, Belfast (website)
1368 kHz - Manx Radio, Isle of Man (website)
1377 kHz - France Info (French website)
1422 kHz - Deutschlandfunk, Germany (German website)

May 2006: ShortWave
15400 kHz - BBC World Service (website)
17490 kHz - China Radio International (English website)

June 2006: MediumWave
1413 kHz - Fresh Radio, North Yorkshire (website)
1458 kHz - BBC Radio Newcastle (Tyne, website)
1485 kHz - BBC Radio 4, Carlisle transmitter (website)
1557 kHz - BBC Radio Lancashire (website)

June 2006: ShortWave - Radio Nederlands, Holland (Dutch website)

July 2006: ShortWave
3955 kHz - WYFR, Family Radio, USA (website)
3965 kHz - Radio Taiwan International (English website)
3975 kHz - Radio Budapest, Hungary (English website)

August 2006: MediumWave
567 kHz - RTE Radio 1, Republic of Ireland (Radio 1 website, Worldwide website)
585 kHz - BBC Radio Scotland (website)
603 kHz - BBC Radio 4, Tyneside transmitter (Radio 4 Message Board)
621 kHz - RTBF1, Belgium (website)
639 kHz - Czech Radio 2 (Praha / Prague website) (English website)
639 kHz - R N E 1, Spain (Spanish website)
648 kHz - BBC World Service (Listen LIVE to BBC)
666 kHz - BBC Radio York (website)

September 2006: Shortwave
3975 kHz - Radio Budapest (Hungarian website)
5000 kHz - W W V, Time Signal Station, USA (website)

Follow the links to the websites and enjoy!

Announcements

Happy Birthday, Freddie ...

Today marks what would have been Freddie Mercury's 60th Birthday.
"Lover of life, Singer of songs"

Steve Irwin, 1962 - 2006

Flambuoyant Australian television personality and expert of all things animal died today following an accident involving a Stingray.
"It's alright, mate, it's alright..."

On to lighter matters ... A return of 'World Of Blog'

Welcome to the world of Punished Angel, the MySpace site of my friend Sarah Smith, pictured above. Look in, log in, have fun!
And Finally...
Coming soon - More from 'Visit Cumbria in 2006', but until then, take care and be good!

Autumn 2006

SEPTEMBER 1st has arrived, and so 'Autumn' has arrived . . . but fear not, it is still time to take a 'late summer' break and Visit Cumbria in 2006!

I know I did mention a project I was going to undertake this summer called 'Visit Cumbria in 2006', but sadly my plans went AWOL and I didn't get anything 'off the ground', so to speak.

I'm starting with Visit Eden, the area in which I live, and you can visit the Visit Eden website by clicking here. Hope you enjoy the site and will plan to visit Eden, which looks great at any time of year, not just the summer.

Summer 2006 : Celeb Tourist Shocker!

THE picture above shows teenage soul singer Joss Stone foregoing the usual overseas climate for a celebrity holiday, choosing to take a dip in the sea off the Cumbrian coast, somewhere along the Allonby Bay coastline. Obviously, the singer's security and wellbeing is paramount, so when and where the picture was taken is a closely guarded secret, only leaked to me by one of the tabloid papers (the picture that is, not the secret). As you can tell by the expression on young Joss' face, maybe the water off the Cumbrian coast was, to say the least, a little chilly this summer.

So there you go, you wait ages for a post and - bang! - celebrities spotted in our fair county! Always first with the hot gossip, here at RFTFT . . . *

* Some of the 'Summer 2006 : Celeb Tourist Shocker!' story may not be true. All right then, none of it is true, but hey, nice picture!

Be careful . . .

G'Day, Stine!

GOOD LUCK to my friend Stine Slettemark of Oslo, Norway, who will soon be departing Scandinavia for Sydney, Australia, to begin a course studying Tourism, which is scheduled to run for three years. Stine has a 'Windows Live Space' (formerly known as an MSN Space) which I have linked to here. I'm sure Stine will update her page with how life is in Australia in due course, but for now join me in sending Stine good wishes and 'Bon Voyage'!

A Classic

I will leave you to make up your own jokes for this one...

More showbiz news!

FOLLOWING on from the post celebrating Zac & Kate's marriage, Reporting From The Fox Tower brings news of more recent celebrity nuptuals!
Saturday 15 July 2006 set the date for the marriage of Canadian couple Deryck Whibley and Avril Lavigne, who are both successful musicians on the rock scene, Whibley is a guitarist with the band Sum 41, whilst Lavigne is a successful solo artist (backed by a band) who has had hits in the singles and album charts for over three years now.
The same date saw the celebration of the marriage of, as the tabloid newspapers called them, 'Ash & Chezza' - Ashley Cole and Cheryl Tweedy. Cole plays football for England, and Arsenal / Chelsea / Arsenal / Chelsea, or whoever, until he makes his mind up. Tweedy is a singer (I think) with the reality TV show created 'vocal group' Girls Aloud, who have been successful in the charts for a while now. Tweedy is also famous for being a Geordie and fighting in pubs. Nice.
More recently, one of 'Ant' and 'Dec' got married too, I guess you may have seen the pictures in the good old tabloid news outlets.

Well I guess that is all for now, oh, hang on, almost forgot -


Phew! Nearly missed that one out. That's better, that will do for now.
As Nick Ross says, "Sleep well, don't have nightmares" . . .

Brough Pram Race, Friday 21 July 2006

SATURDAY'S post of a photograph of a man in a dress is the first of a selection taken at the Brough Pram Race, Main Street, Friday 21 July 2006.
The photograph above is the '118' team, Claire (seated) & Holly (doing the running), who were 'would be' winners, had they not cut short the course to return early, crossing the line first, only to find they had been disqualified.
Saturday's picture features Steve on the right (in the dress), who was half of the 'Sheila's Wheels' team, who were third in the race. So what is the Pram Race? First of all, the 'pram' is a child's pram, wheelbarrow, shopping trolley, wheelchair, cart, etc in which one person sits and the other pushes. A course is set on Brough Main Street which includes drinking stops, where the teams drink half a pint of lager before continuing on the course. May I point out this is an annual event, so you have plenty of time to prepare for the next Pram Race in 2007. More pictures of this year's event soon. Be afraid, be very afraid... ;D

One Day, This Could Be You...

Hello again

I HAVE been rather lazy regarding this page quite recently, so I'm popping by to say Hello and that I will write an article of interest soon... and that's about it for now! I don't think I need tell you how the football or the tennis went this summer, or how the cricket is going at present.

Until then, I shall leave you with a picture relating to my previous post regarding Wimbledon 2006, showing Miss Sharapova at her best, I think.

Until the next time, take care and be good!

If you're sick of football...

WHAT A thing to say! As if anyone could be sick of football, what with the World Cup on 24 hours a day, the fixtures for next season already doing the rounds...

I guess you see my point. For those who don't worship that certain round ball game, you do have salvation this summer. Hoping the weather will hold for some decent cricket this summer, be it the village game (all those simmering rivalries and the like), the county cricket scene or the Test Match Special variety, that the leather on willow game will be entertaining this season, even if the highest level do have alot to live up to (Small matter of the Ashes to play for once again later this year).

Also the time has come for Wimbledon, which begins at the All England Lawn And Tennis Club (SW19, isn't it?) this coming Monday, 26th June. Can Henman, Rusedski or Murray bring home (so to speak) the big prize in the men's game? Messrs Federer, Nadal, Roddick et al will no doubt have their own plans for the tournament. As for the Ladies' tournament, Venus Williams will be looking to retain her Rose Plate (I think that is the description for the top prize in the Ladies' game), whilst Maria Sharapova (pictured above) will be looking to repeat her triumph of 2004. Best of luck to all involved, whatever your game.

Showbiz News...

AND why not. This blog has been a bit 'football overload' recently, so I decided on a change for today.
The picture on the right celebrates the recent Marriage of musician Zac Hanson, 20, who married his long time girlfriend Kate, 22, in Georgia, USA, on June 3 2006. Zac is one third of the band Hanson, who had five hit singles in 1997 - 1998, taken from their album 'Middle of Nowhere', which was followed by the albums '3 Car Garage: The Indie Recordings', 'Snowed In' (a collection of Christmas songs) and the live concert recording of 'Live From Albertane'.

The three Hanson brothers who make up the band (Isaac: guitar & vocals, Taylor: piano/keyboard & vocals, Zac: drums, percussion & vocals) followed up their success with the album 'This Time Around' in the year 2000, which brought two singles: 'If Only' and 'This Time Around'.

A dispute with the record company Island DefJam saw Hanson go their seperate ways and form their own label, 3CG Records, through which saw the UK release of their album 'Underneath' through licensing to Cooking Vinyl in 2005, which gave Hanson two more chart hits, 'Penny & Me' and 'Lost Without Each Other'.

So join me, raise your glass to Zac and Kate, wish them all the best... and hope you have learned a little more pop music history too - Cheers!

Thanks for the memories, Simmo

TOMORROW (Monday) sees Paul Simpson take up the post of Manager of Preston North End Football Club, after leaving Carlisle United Football Club this weekend. Simpson,39, joined Carlisle United as a player in 2003 under the reign of Irish Manager Roddy Collins. After a dismal start to the 2003 - 2004 season, Collins was sacked and Simpson was given the role of Manager as a caretaker, having been Manager at previous football clubs. Simpson was appointed full time Manager of Carlisle United in late 2003, engineering a turnaround in the club's failing season, from relegation certainties to the brink of safety, sadly the club was relegated to the Conference.

This was not to be a setback to Simpson and his team, as they fought throughout the season 2004 - 2005 in the Conference to the Play Off Final at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke, May 2005, in which United returned to the Football League by beating Stevenage Borough one goal to nil (Scored by Peter Murphy).

Simpson's team in Coca - Cola League Two hit the ground running - and despite a stutter in September 2005, United got their season on track with a 1-0 win over Mansfield Town at Brunton Park on October 15, followed by their biggest warning shot to all in the League: The 6-0 demolition of Stockport County at Brunton Park on October 29. The New Year saw the big scores roll in: 4-0 against Bury at Brunton Park, 5-0 at Boston, 5-0 against Chester at Brunton Park, as well as Rushden & Diamonds, finishing the cricket scores with the amazing 5-0 win over Darlington at the TFM Arena.

Nothing more can be said for United's trip to the Millennium Stadium, which was an experience, Cumbria to Cardiff and back again, all in one day. Adam Murray with United's goal that day.

The season closed with vital wins over Grimsby and Notts County, a 1-1 draw at Mansfield (Karl Hawley goal) secured promotion to League One, a 2-0 win at Rochdale made United Champions Elect, a no score draw at Stockport handing the League Two Championship to Carlisle United Football Club on the last day of the season, May 6 2006, that evening Brunton Park witnessed the presentation of the Championship trophy to the team. A moment to which I recall I was there.

Since season's end, United have signed the striker Kevin Gall, rumours abound Simpson was in the running for the managerial position at Derby County, Hull City, Preston North End. All originally batted away by Simpson and United, finally PNE FC making the breakthrough and luring Simpson away from his hometown club.

So what becomes of United as they look forward to the return of the playing staff on July third? Danny Livesey of the United defence was told the news of his Manager's departure whilst on holiday in Egypt. Who will step into the shoes of Simpson? And what of the backroom staff, Dennis Booth, Russ Richardson, even Billy Barr? So many questions, only this summer will reveal the answers.

Season's End

CARLISLE United finished the 2005 - 2006 League Two season as Champions, with 86 points. The final game of the season was Saturday 6 May 2006, away at Stockport, which ended in a 0-0 draw. The team returned to Brunton Park for the medals and trophy presentation at 8pm that evening, an attendance of around seven thousand saw United crowned Champions on an amazing evening.

Monday 8 May saw a civic reception for the team at the Civic Centre, Carlisle, whilst the same day the team manager, Paul Simpson, announced his plans for the squad, which are as follows:

Kevin Gray (Captain), Paul Arnison and Derek Holmes have all accepted new one year contracts, Lee Andrews has been released whilst Simpson has said he will "listen to offers" for Glenn Murray, Simon Grand and Brendan McGill. News is Karl Hawley has signed a contract extension with the Club - Bring on League One!

Middlesbrough travelled to Eindhoven, Holland for the UEFA Cup Final on Wednesday night, losing 4-0 to Seville (Spain) - Enough said I think. Today saw the Cup Finals: Liverpool beat West Ham on penalties, as did Hearts against Gretna. All eyes now turn to Stade De France, Paris, for the Champions League Final this coming Wednesday: Barcelona v Arsenal. Then there's the small matter of a World Cup coming up, more about that nearer the time.

That's all for now, enjoy the sunshine!

C h a m p i o n s ! ! !

CARLISLE United visited Spotland this evening and recorded a 2-0 victory over Rochdale to secure the League Two Championship, goals from Danny Livesey and Peter Murphy.

Merry May Day!

I'M not entirely sure if the May Day holiday has a greeting, such as 'Happy Easter' which was doing the rounds a couple of weeks ago (or so). I am aware of the saying 'May Gosling', which I think is supposed to be something along the lines of the 'April Fool' greeting, or 'Beware The Ides of March', for the early days of that month. I'm not sure of traditions like those mentioned above, any ideas or help regarding the traditions of the sayings mentioned above will be most grateful, thank you, leave your comments in the Comments link below, please, interactivity is the key at Reporting From The Fox Tower (or how about RFTFT from now on?)! Anyways, enjoy your May Day holiday however you are spending the day.

The Weekend...

SATURDAY saw a visit to Brunton Park for the football match between Carlisle United and Torquay United. Bearing in mind the game was a fine line between League Two Championship and huge banana skin what with Torquay's position of twenty third in the League Two table (or thereabouts), the afternoon started brightly, the sun was shining and a party atmosphere was had by all - The Sporting Inn (a bar just behind The Paddock with an impressive view of the Brunton Park pitch) was absolutely heaving, a few familiar faces and some new faces for the day, plenty of songs were sung as the Promotion celebrations were getting underway, a week earlier Carlisle secured a point at Mansfield Town to be promoted to League One.

And so out into The Paddock, extra pre-match entertainment was laid on by the football club for the last home game of the season, the promotion celebration for the largest attendance of the season, as thirteen thousand made their way into Brunton Park for the match. The forth-coming 'Party On The Pitch' concerts (May 13 & 14) at Brunton Park were the focal point of the pre-match entertainment as a troupe of dancers took to the pitch to promote the weekend and my, those girls were hot. Check them out at Mark Fuller [Official CUFC photographer] 's page at Mark-Fuller.co.uk, follow the CUFC links for the latest pics v. Torquay Utd.

As the girls went off the pitch and the teams came on, it seems Torquay's 4-0 win over Stockport previous to this game had been forgotten, as Torquay came out all guns blazing to preserve their football league status, as Carlisle were possibly nervous at this game with a possible presentation of the League Two Championship trophy a mere ninety minutes away. And so it proved, Torquay took the lead on eight minutes, 2-0 at forty minutes. Not even the WA Developments helicopter circling the ground prior to half time was of interest, neither was its passenger, Alan Halsall (Corrie's Tyrone Dobbs) who drew the Golden Gamble prize draw at half time: the prize of over one thousand pounds is still waiting to be claimed! United started the brighter, Zigor Aranalde headed a goal for Carlisle, player-manager Paul Simpson put in a five minute cameo at the end of the game, Torquay winning 2-1.

An enjoyable day none the less, the crowd saluted the team at the end of the game, two games remaining at Rochdale and Stockport to round off a truly amazing season.

I feel that is enough for today, enjoy the day, have a great week!

Happy Birthday Emelie 3 May 2006 !

Thursday night notes

HOPE you like the new addition to Reporting From The Fox Tower - The real time clock in the sidebar! I've set the clock to show GMT, two reasons :

• My radio hobby dictates times to be recorded in GMT (also known as UTC - Universal Time Co-ordination), therefore the clock on my radio (Roberts R881) is always set to GMT. I also feel my journal would benefit from having a reference point to 'local time', which here in the UK is GMT (+1 in summer).
• The second reason is that in the latter part of the first reason - The change between GMT and GMT+1 when the clocks change twice a year in the UK. We know the time it takes to alter all the clocks at home - This makes that job one clock more convenient.

I'll close for tonight - Hope you report back to Reporting From The Fox Tower again soon!

Happy Easter

WISHING you all an enjoyable and peaceful Easter weekend. If you have some good memories of the weekend, please use the comments link below this post and write up your memories of the weekend, share with us how you spent the Easter weekend. Nice idea, I think!

A Final Traveller's Tale

AS the Easter weekend is with us, the Summer season has now begun and this post hosts the final in the series of World of Blog / Traveller's Tales.

Today's link is to Hayley, pictured left, who has a Where Are You Now site, which can be viewed here.
As said in previous posts, I hope all those featured in the series give you some interesting ideas for the summer, and also a chance to catch up on life with people in various areas of the world.

Visit Cumbria in 2006 (A Revival)

SOMETIME over the Winter I made a post titled Visit Cumbria in 2006, in which I pledged to start a series promoting all areas of Cumbria to give you an excellent reason to visit the County this Summer. In that post made during the cold, dark months, I placed a link to the Historic Carlisle site, which I hope you found of interest. As this is the introduction to the series, I won't rush to place any posts today, I will continue my research and give you some good ideas for the season ahead.
Hoping to see you in Cumbria very soon!

Easter on the Wireless

I spent the afternoon of Good Friday (14 April) taking advantage of some free time which I spent with my radio, listening to the Medium Wave band. True to form, here are the stations I heard. As some broadcasters use several frequencies on the Medium Wave (AM) band, some of the stations featured here in this list have been featured previously on Reporting From The Fox Tower, so today's list won't feature links to the broadcasters' websites, but if you see a station you are interested in and would like to see more, please use Google. (Other popular search engines are available).

Friday 14 April 2006 :
1314 kHz : NRK Euuropakanalen (Norwegian Domestic Service)
1341 kHz : BBC Radio Ulster (Northern Ireland)
1368 kHz : Manx Radio (Isle of Man)
1377 kHz : France Info (French Domestic Service, Lille transmitter)
1404 kHz : France Info (Brest transmitter)
1422 kHz : Deutschlandfunk (German Domestic Service)

There were other broadcasts too, which I could not fully identify, which would have been nice to bolster the list, but hopefully, next time . . . !

Well that concludes the post for today, Enjoy your Easter!

Cardiff Day Out - FM Logs

Yesterday (Tuesday) I wrote of Sunday's trip to Cardiff for the Football League Trophy Final.
Whilst on the bus, I listened to various broadcasters on the FM band on a pocket radio. Here is a list of the stations I heard with links to their websites:

BBC Lancashire Online
97.4 Rock FM (Preston) Online
100.4 Smooth FM Online
Signal One Cheshire & Staffordshire Online
Kerrang 105 FM Online
97.2 Beacon Radio Online
Saga 105.7 FM Online
BBC Hereford & Worcester Online
Vibe FM Online
BBC Radio Cymru (Welsh language site)
BBC Radio Bristol Online
95.6 BBC WM (West Midlands) Online
Century FM Online
BBC Manchester Online

And that is the list of what I heard Sunday 2 April 2006! Hours approximately 7am to 12 noon, 4pm to 10pm, with breaks from listening.

With regards to my radio listening hobby on Medium Wave and Short Wave, I plan to do some listening over Easter, so I will probably post what I heard on this blog so something else to look forward to!


World of Blog : Traveller's Tales 2

Catch up on life with Alice as she travels the world, logged by her page on the Where Are You Now website, which you can visit here.

You may note from Alice's page she's a Cumbrian girl which is always good to see! Quite a few exotic trips too, a few ideas for a summer getaway. Those hoping for a summer getaway with Alice may be disappointed, pictures seem to show she is attached.

Hope you will get over your disappointment - till next time...

'On The Road' with Carlisle United

Sunday was an amazing day. I was a bit dubious of what the day would bring when the alarm rang out at 5am, slightly groggy due to the cold I have been carrying since mid week. I switched on my radio to find BBC Radio Cumbria's transmitters relaying the 'over-night' service from Five Live... which happened to be live coverage of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix! Thanks to Phil Jones at Brough Post Office for allowing customers to interrupt his sorting of the morning papers, yup, that was me. The Grand Prix bus arrived at 6am and carried us to Cardiff, from what I have seen, a very beautiful city.

The Millennium Stadium is an imposing structure, there is no other way to describe it. All the plaudits to Carlisle United, losing 2-1 but united in defeat, defiant and strong. And so back on the bus, for another six or seven hours travel.

I took a couple of pocket FM radios on the journey, pencil and paper noting down stations I heard there and back. I will log the stations, with links to their web pages, in a future post on Reporting From The Fox Tower.
And for the anorak in me, we passed close to the BBC transmitter site at Droitwich, responsible for broadcasting BBC Radio 4 Long Wave on 198 kHz and BBC Radio Five Live on 693 kHz Medium Wave.
Just so you know.

And as for Carlisle United ... I expect to see you all, Saturday, Brunton Park, for the game against Grimsby Town. It's gonna be a good 'un!


World of Blog ( part three ) : Traveller's Tales

CATCH UP ON LIFE in Oslo (Norway) with Stine.
I've mentioned Stine previously in Reporting From The Fox Tower, on the occasion of her Twenty - First Birthday, which included a link to her MSN Space, which I have included again here.

I have subtitled this item ' Traveller's Tales' as Stine has travelled the World in recent years, and for those of you who share Stine's enthusiasm for World travel, take a look at Stine's page on the web site 'Where Are You Now' which might give you some ideas for your holiday this summer.

All change - on (or off) the air

That's all for this edition, as some media outlets like to say, especially some radio broadcasts. The turning of March to April has brought about changes to various radio broadcasts in, or from, the United Kingdom. First of all a wind of change - BBC GMR has now reverted to BBC Manchester, whilst it is end of the line for BBC Radio 4's early morning UK Theme and the BBC World Service closed their Calling The Falklands broadcast after many years.
BBC Radio 2 said goodbye to Colin Berry and Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart, veteran pirate broadcaster Johnnie Walker vacated his weekday drivetime show to take over Stewpot's Sunday show, whilst young upstart Chris Evans (age 40) left his Saturday show to take up Johnnie's drivetime. Confused? Questions later...

Will leave you in peace now - for a day or two at least !

Stay tuned to this frequency . . . . .

Summer's here...

... And only one week until the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, plays host to League Two leaders Carlisle United, as they take on League One's Swansea City in the Football League Trophy Final (Formerly the LDV Trophy, but LDV went bust).

To celebrate reaching Cardiff, the Blues have adopted a song by the group So What as their anthem for the final, which you can listen to online and download from the "Blue Army 2006" website, available here.
Go and enjoy!

On The Radio

I've been very slack in bragging to you about what I have been listening to on my radio from all corners of the globe, so I am rectifying that now. As with a post I uploaded last December, I have endeavoured to accompany all stations listed here with a link to their websites, so you may follow the link and learn a little about their station and their nation, if you wish to.

Anyway, here goes:

January 10 2006:

BBC World Service (11680 kHz Short Wave - Arabic Service?)
W W C R (12160 kHz Short Wave - English to the Americas and Europe from Nashville, TN, USA)
W E W N (13615 kHz Short Wave - English to the Americas and Europe from Birmingham, AL, USA)

February 28 2006:

France Info (1206 kHz Medium Wave - French language domestic service, broadcast from Bordeaux, France)
Virgin Radio (1215 kHz Medium Wave - UK national broadcaster, co-channel interference from Spain!)
Radio 747 (1251 kHz Medium Wave - Dutch language domestic service, broadcast from Hulsberg, Holland)
Classic Gold Amber (1251 kHz Medium Wave - UK regional broadcaster, Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds)
Deutschlandfunk / DLF (1269 kHz Medium Wave - German language domestic service, Arpsdorf / Neumunster, Germany)
France Bleu (1278 kHz Medium Wave - French language domestic service, Strasbourg)

March 9 2006:

W Y F R / Family Radio (15115 kHz Short Wave - English to all continents from Okeechobee, FL, USA & Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean)
Voice of Nigeria (15120 kHz Short Wave - English to Africa)
Radio Havana Cuba (15230 kHz Short Wave - Spanish broadcast to Europe & Mediterranean)
Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (15315 kHz Short Wave - Dutch language service)
RAE Argentina (15345 kHz Short Wave - Spanish / Portuguese language to North Africa & Europe)

And there you have it! Click the links on the station names - And say hello by email or signing their guestbooks if you wish to!

World of Blog (part two)


Catch up on life with Emelie in Sweden by visiting her MySpace site, by clicking here. Emelie, pictured right, states one of her interests as "Running around in my underwear" which is not a bad thing at all.

And Finally...

I hope you remembered to put your clocks forward by an hour today, if you need to know the time, click here. Following the link may even bring back a memory or two...

Well that's your lot for today, quite alot it was too!

Take care, enjoy the links provided and have a great week.

(PS - See you in Cardiff next week!)

This one's for the boys

Like football penalty kick games? Click here for a game with a twist, in which you get your own lady supporter to cheer you on as you try to score the penalty kicks. It is great fun, give it a go, I know you will like it!

A Joke

40 Gypsies arrive at Heaven's gates, St Peter said "We've only got room for 12 so decide amongst yourselves who's coming in".
5 minutes later St Peter says to God, "they've gone!" God says "what, all 40?" St Peter says "No! The fucking gates!"

Go on, laugh! You know you want to!

Have a great weekend. . .

World of Blog

TAKE A LOOK at life in Australia through the webpage of Melissa, which can be viewed here. Reading through Mel's profile, she's a woman who definately enjoys the high life - at such a young age too! It's not too shabby living in Sydney, working for Chanel and have a social life too... some may say jealousy and damn, you're right.

ICONS OF ENGLAND

I'm just wondering if you are aware of the ICONS website, dedicated to the icons of England... well, I ask as I'm pretty chuffed at present as I nominated the Leeds - Settle - Carlisle Railway as an Icon last week, I'm pleased to say the moderators have included the Railway on the site and my page can be viewed here!

I do hope you will all visit the Icons page and vote for the Railway, I would very much like the Railway to have the recognition it deserves.

And Finally...

Animal Rights . . . ?

On Tuesday, thirty-one animal rights activists launched a vicious attack on the East Sussex and Romney Marsh Hunt. The attack left one hunt follower in a serious condition in hospital, and several others injured.
This had nothing to do with protest or sabotage. It was a vicious and unprovoked assault by a group of mindless thugs. No more, no less. Sussex constabulary have arrested five people from London and Hertfordshire in connection with the incident.
The animal rights movement is dwindling in numbers, but is becoming increasingly extreme. Whether harassing businesses connected to the development of laboratories, threatening farmers and their families or attacking hunts, their tactics are becoming more vindictive and violent.
There is little separating thugs like these from the so-called legitimate animal rights movement. Their shared goals concentrate on hatred of people far more than any concern for animals.
We wish the young farmer who was hospitalised well and have every confidence that the police will bring his attackers to justice.

The above was a statement from Simon Hart, of the Countryside Alliance. The statement shows the so-called 'animal rights' groups are decending into chaos, largely brought on themselves, following the folly of the 'Hunting Act 2004', a legislation they pushed so hard for, only for the politicians to create a total nonsense of a law which is absolutely unworkable and a law for which even the Police have no interest in upholding. Couple this with the demonstration in favour of an animal testing laboratory in Oxford at the weekend and I think we see what kind of people these 'animal lovers' really are.

A Good Day

Saturday 18 February 2006 turned out to be a really good day - First off, Manchester United got dumped out of the FA Cup by Liverpool - I'm not a fan of the Premiership teams so it is always good to see the likes of Arsenal and Man U win absolutely nothing at the end of the season ;D

Carlisle United recorded another high score of the season when they beat Rushden & Diamonds FC by five goals to nil to return to the top of League Two (on goal difference) .
Carlisle have a busy couple of days ahead of them - Monday sees the United Youth team travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool in the Quarter Final of the FA Youth Cup, whilst back at Brunton Park on Tuesday night the Area Final first leg of the LDV Trophy sees Carlisle take on Macclesfield Town (7:45pm Kick Off) - Hoping Karl Hawley extend his goal scoring feats of this super season!

Finally, Happy Birthday to my friend in Oslo, Miss Stine Slettemark, who celebrated her Twenty-first Birthday on Saturday. Stine has an MSN Space online, to which I have placed a link here. Go take a look! :)

Have a great week!

One of those moments...

As I was returning home on the train Wednesday evening (8 February) after a long day in Carlisle, I offered the seat next to mine to a gentleman looking for somewhere to sit in a carriage quickly filling up. As he sat down, we exchanged pleasantries, spoke of many subjects, moving on to football.

The gentleman's name is Peter Thompson - Almost 40 years ago, Peter played professional football for Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool and England! Peter remembered the time he was part of the England team who played Brazil at the Maracana Stadium, when Jimmy Greaves scored first - England lost 4-1.

I have found a profile of Peter during his time with Liverpool, which can be viewed by clicking here. When I saw Peter's picture on the profile, I recognised him instantly. A truly memorable moment.

For those who may be interested, Peter was born in Carlisle, he has family in the city and he now lives in Harrogate, where he runs a hotel called The Delaine, a link to the website of which is here.

Have a pleasant week!

Immortality...

I would imagine anything posted on the internet may be there for eternity, so in recognition of Carlisle United's achievement of reaching the top of the League Two table this weekend, click here and print your own record of the team's achievement, topped off with a 5-0 victory this weekend.

If you are looking for those infamous Danish cartoons, click here. One thought about the events since: No one made such a fuss when the Monty Python team filmed 'The Life Of Brian' all those years ago, did they, so why all the fuss now?

Finally, click here for something to make you smile. Please note none of the above are connected to each other.

Have a good week!

Mayday! Mayday! British rescue sparked by faulty TV receiver

January 16, 2006
A faulty digital television receiver sparked a helicopter rescue mission after sending out a rogue distress signal, Britain's Royal Air Force said yesterday. The Freeview box - which normally allows television viewers access to dozens of digital TV and radio channels via a standard, rooftop aerial - sent out a signal identical to that for emergency beacons at sea.

The SOS, beamed from Portsmouth, on England's south coast, was picked up by a satellite and sent to the RAF's Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Kinloss, northeast Scotland, in the early hours of January 5. Personnel then alerted English coastguards, who sent a helicopter to investigate. The aircraft spent two fruitless hours flying over Portsmouth Harbour looking for stricken sailors until the signal was traced to dry land.

RAF spokesman Michael Mulford said: "Our Kinloss rescue centre picked up this beacon from one of five orbiting satellites listening out for these things. "It was a 121.5 transmission - that's the major emergency frequency, a 'Mayday'. We traced it to Portsmouth Harbour, checked and found out there were no vessels in the area or missing planes. "We checked with (British telecoms regulator) Ofcom and they quickly established it was coming from a household. It turned out to be a faulty Freeview box.

"This is very very unusual, it's a complete freak and the odds of a digibox sending out a 121.5 signal must be astronomical." Ofcom described the incident as a "real one-off" as digital boxes should only receive and not send signals. "The householder was happy to hand it over to our engineers who are trying to get to the bottom of the defect," a spokesman said.

Irish Scarecrow

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a safe, healthy and prosperous 2006.