Latest news with #Dedication
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Caring Cumbrian primary school teacher nominated for top award
A Cumbria Primary school teacher has been nominated for Collection Pot's Teacher of the Year competition. Stephanie Day who teaches at Warwick Bridge Primary School, was nominated by her Year 6 pupil Dana Fawkes and Dana's mother, Anna Murray. The nomination highlights both her strong commitment to her students and the personal challenges she's faced during her IVF journey. Despite the physical and emotional strain of fertility treatment, she has continued to give her best to her class every day, staying dedicated to her role as a teacher. 'This year has been a tough one for her,' Dana shared in her nomination, 'but she always puts us first and works super hard and made sure each of us was ready for our SATs. I really hope she wins and gets recognised for her awesomeness and dedication to her job.' Dana's mum, Anna, also spoke about her impact, describing her as a teacher who has managed to do her job extremely well while dealing with difficult personal challenges. 'Miss Day's day kicks off with a drive to school that takes her about an hour and fifteen minutes. This year marks her first experience teaching a year 6 class. Along with her new year 6 class, she's also diving into her first year of preparing the kids for SATs.' Anna said. 'She ensured that every child had the necessary interventions set up for the teaching assistants to help them in areas where they needed extra support. Plus, she organised a weekly SATs club to further assist the children in getting ready for the tests.' Anna explained that sadly over the Easter Holiday's Miss Day lost her beloved Nana. 'The beginning of the Easter holidays brought heartbreak for Miss Day as she lost her cherished Nana, with whom she was very close. Despite her grief, she kept the children in mind, reaching out to all the parents with a personalised list of tasks for their kids to focus on.' Upon hearing that she had been nominated, Miss Day said: 'I was so surprised to find out I had been nominated for the award and I am absolutely thrilled. Even though I have been having a really tough year, it is the wonderful children in my class who have kept me going and kept me smiling, even when I really haven't felt like it. Doing all I can for my class has been a welcome distraction this year and I pride myself on doing all I can to support every pupil.' Anna and Dana are hopeful that Miss Day will win the competition. 'Winning would be a wonderful way to show how much she is valued and loved by everyone.' Collection Pot's Teacher of the Year competition 2025 aims to celebrate the exceptional dedication of teachers, teaching assistants, support staff, and headteachers in schools across the nation. Nominations are open until June 22nd, and the winner will be announced on July 4th.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Ziva, Luca, Dedication, Final Call and Eastern Gold shine
Ziva, Luca, Dedication, Final Call and Eastern Gold shone when the horses were exercised here on Wednesday morning (June 18). Inner sand: 600m: Vivaldi (Hindu S) 39.5. Strode out well. 1200m: Woman At War (Neeraj) 1-21.5, 1,000/1-6.5, 600/40. In fine trim. Outer sand: 600m: Pledge (G. Vivek) 45.5. Moved freely. Beech Wood (rb) 45.5. Easy. The Leader (rb) 45.5. Moved on the bit. Cherie Chevalier (Sai Kumar), Racing Ruler (S.A. Amit) 43.5. They finished level. Joyful Spirit (R. Pradeep) 43.5. Retains form. Monteverdi (Hindu S) 43.5. Shaped well. 1000m: Eastern Gold (R. Pradeep) 1-11.5, 600/41. Impressed. Win Win (Ritesh G) 1-14, 600/42. Worked well. 1200m: Dedication (C. Umesh) 1-26, 1,000/1-11, 600/43. Moved attractively. Final Call (Akram) 1-26, 1,000/1-10.5, 600/44. Moved impressively. Simola (C. Umesh), Wolf Creek (P. Vikram) 1-27, 1,000/1-12, 600/44.5. They moved nicely. Neptune (Sandesh) 1-28, 1,000/1-13, 600/42.5. In fine trim. Mayne Magic (Antony) 1-30.5, 1,000/1-13.5, 600/43.5. In fine nick. Ziva (P. Trevor), Connecting Dots (G. Vivek) 1-25.5, 1,000/1-10.5, 600/42. Former started three lengths behind and finished level. 1400m: Matisse ( 1-43.5, (1,400-600) 55. Eased up. Darrion (G. Vivek) 1-44, 1,200/1-29, 1,000/1-15, 600/46. Moved freely. Luca (C. Umesh) 1-44.5, 1,200/1-26.5, 1,000/1-10.5, 600/41. A fine display. Eagle Day (G. Vivek) 1-43.5, 1,200/1-28.5, 1,000/1-14.5, 600/44.5. Easy.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lil Wayne Fleetingly Reminds Us Why He's One of the Best
Two years ago, Lil Wayne released a career-spanning compilation, I Am Music. It seems like an impossible task to summarize three decades of music that dates to his febrile debut as one-half of B.G.z in 1995, spans a record-breaking number of entries on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as dozens of official mixtapes and countless unauthorized leaks, and solidifies him as one of the most prolific and influential acts of his generation. But I Am Music largely skips over his heralded early material – there's nothing from his first three albums and forget about the Dedication and Drought tapes. He opts for the watery arena-sized chum that has girded his work ever since 'Lollipop' launched him to mega-stardom. Say what you want about his pleasing but overripe 2011 five-times platinum smash Tha Carter IV. Few would claim that his Bruno Mars collaboration 'Mirror' is an all-time highlight. I Am Music signified a dissonance that marks Wayne's catalog after 2008's eight-times-platinum Tha Carter III. Fans still celebrate him as the punchline-dropping weed head with aqueous cadences who reshaped Aughts hip-hop in his image while personifying Dirty South lyricism at its finest. But he has long since evolved into a pop avatar. The qualities that once made him so familiar yet beloved, from his tangy New Orleans vocal tone to his relentlessly funny rhyme schemes, have been thoroughly absorbed into the genre's firmament. If Wayne was a conceptual artist, perhaps he could rearrange those attributes into a masterwork less dependent on raw ability. But seems cursed to crank out the same 'ol rhythm 'n' blues, albeit not as vibrantly as in his gloried past. More from Rolling Stone Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. Open 'Hamilton' Medley With Original Cast at Tony Awards Lil Wayne Turned Madison Square Garden Into a Time Machine on His 'Tha Carter VI' Tour Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Wayne, Addison Rae, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week Online insta-reactions to Tha Carter VI since its debut on streaming services last Friday have been mixed-to-negative, which seems unfair. It's not as thoroughly desultory as 2020's Funeral nor as distressing as 2013's I Am Not a Human Being II, the latter of which was released amid his widely publicized lean addiction and felt like a call for help. Waynee sounds happy, like a former champion boxer joyfully taking swings at a punching bag in his rec room. There's an appealing playfulness to tracks like 'Cotton Candy,' where he bandies around cocaine metaphors alongside 2 Chainz, and 'If I Played Guitar,' where he sings over a soupy pop-rock track. The album's final number, 'Written History,' opens with the voice of Muhammad Ali circa 'The Rumble in the Jungle,' and Wayne positions himself as a sports legend straining for one last ring. Unwittingly, he raps, 'I'm like Brady at 45, nigga,' never mind that Tom Brady's final season in the NFL didn't end well. But athletes' careers don't falter because they stop moving; it's because they don't move with the same quickness and creativity of their youth. Wayne's still got the punchlines: 'I still eat the rappers I heard, they're appetizers,' he boasts on 'Welcome to Tha Carter.' Perhaps inspired by how his 2018 track 'Uproar,' which relies on EZ Elpee's beat for G. Dep's 2001 hit 'Special Delivery,' became an ESPN broadcast staple, Wayne doubles down on the old-school hip-hop references. He raps over the bass rumble of Rick Rubin's beat for LL Cool J's 1985 chestnut 'Rock the Bells' for 'Bells,' and Swizz Beatz's keyboard fanfare from N.O.R.E.'s 1998 'Banned from TV' for 'Banned from NO.' 'I was raised on UGK/When them hoes say 'Weezy F.,' Weezy F. say U-C-K, bitch! (Fuck these hoes),' he sings on the otherwise awful 'Island Holiday,' itself a tepid interpolation of Weezer's 2001 anthem 'Island in the Sun.' For 'Loki's Theme,' he alludes to an Ice Cube verse from N.W.A's 1988 single 'Gangsta, Gangsta': 'Hold up, right, left, right, left, you're toothless/Break his nose, right hand full of mucus.' It's fun to hear him chop up OG arcana while overdosing on basketball and football shout-outs. 'Weed smoke got me chokin' like Reggie Miller, nigga,' he raps on 'Hip-Hop.' The issue with Tha Carter VI isn't relevance – old-head rap made by 40 and 50-something goats has thrived for years now – but a sense that nothing's really at stake. That wasn't the case with 2018's Tha Carter V, where Wayne sounded visibly moved by the innumerable trials he has endured. When he rapped, 'I am not number 1, it's true/I'm number 9-27-82' on the XXXTENTACION-assisted 'Don't Cry,' he sounded relieved to still be alive, regardless of his position in the genre's constellation. Here, there's no overarching purpose other than a desire to still dazzle us like before. At best, that leads to 'Cotton Candy,' 'Hip-Hop' and, if we're being charitable, 'Written History.' It also results in terrible cuts like 'The Days,' where Bono sings over an EDM thump; 'Peanuts 2 N Elephant,' where he riffs over a clumsily amateurish beat from Lin-Manuel Miranda that personifies the celebrity BFF phenomenon at its worst; and 'Mula Komin' In,' a duet with his son Lil Novi where he raps 'That's Lil Mula, that's my son, he my youngest…He's fuckin' your daughter, I'm fuckin' your woman.' And, much like Snoop Dogg's mediocre Iz It a Crime, Wayne only makes glancing mention of his dalliance with Donald Trump. 'I'ma red elephant like Donald Trump, but I still act a donkey like, 'Ha, what's up',' he raps on 'Peanuts 2 N Elephant.' Make of that what you will. 'I can't be nothing, just me…don't try to make me someone else,' Wayne sings on 'Bein' Myself,' a long-anticipated reunion with one time Cash Money godhead Mannie Fresh. Declining to revisit the vintage bounce of peaks like 'Go D.J.' and 'Tha Block Is Hot,' Mannie loops a melody from Dionne Warwick's '(I'm) Just Being Myself,' and Wayne convincingly argues why we should let him do him and stop demanding he evolve into a different type of artist. 'Get off my lawn because your lawn chair ain't a throne yet,' he raps. No one should begrudge Wayne for being contented on Tha Carter VI, secure in his reputation as one of the best to ever do it. But he can't prevent his audience from opting for the classics instead. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
CTV News
22-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Honouring late North Bay city councillor with parkette
Northern Ontario Watch The City of North Bay will be recognizing its longest-serving council member, the late George Maroosis, with parkette dedication.
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Dedication's what you need': Memories of Record Breakers as BBC reboots show
For many British gen Xers, BBC Record Breakers was a staple of their childhoods in the 1970s and 80s. Following the news the show is to be rebooted after 24 years off air, people have shared their recollections of its featured world record attempts, beloved and controversial presenters and theme song, Dedication. Many of those who responded to the Guardian's callout warmly remembered Roy Castle, one of the original presenters, as an all-round showbiz trouper. Castle, an accomplished trumpeter who performed Dedication at the end of each episode, broke nine world records himself and worked on the show until just months before his death from lung cancer in 1994. 'Roy Castle brought joy to proceedings – I loved his warm and witty everyman persona,' said Andrew Brooke, 56, a retired teacher from Wells in Somerset. 'Dedication must rank as one of the finest theme tunes in history, particularly as he sang and played a trumpet solo live each week. The lyrics were tweaked to fit the featured records attempts. I would occasionally sing them to inspire my pupils: 'If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest, dedication's what you need.' Though there was usually no response at all from the children!' Brooke was one of many respondents who particularly enjoyed the attempts to break records live on the show. One that has stuck in his memory involved a barber trying to complete the most number of shaves in a minute: 'He used a cut-throat razor on these men with five o'clock shadows and cut someone's face in the process.' Sarah Shepley, 60, a retired scientist from Devon, recalled meeting Castle when she took part in two record attempts on the show in 1977. Then aged about 12, her church youth club in Ealing, west London, was invited to BBC White City to be part of a big tap dance ensemble in the courtyard. 'We then joined a huge group of kids peeling onions. They gave us plastic knives for it which were useless. It was a hoot. Roy Castle sang 'Don't cry for me onion peeler'. Don't Cry for Me Argentina was a No 1 hit that year. He was just a nice bloke, hilarious, a big kid.' A few people said the show inspired them to attempt to break records. Among them was Philip Reader, 56, from London, who back in his infant school in Brentwood in Essex roped in his best friend to see how far they could hop on one leg. He wrote to the programme and was delighted to receive a signed response from Castle, along with a 'showbizzy' autographed photo. But he was disappointed to hear from the presenter that there was no recognised category for his record attempt. Reader, who works for Waitrose, said the show encouraged him to pursue his passion for music to this day. 'It taught me about following your own ideas and not being afraid to stand out from the crowd,' he added. ''Dedication's what you need' is the advice and encouragement that I have carried throughout my life.' Another callout respondent had his hopes of breaking a record dashed by his parents' revelations about a purportedly long-lived pet. Peter Allan, 60, a self-employed management consultant from East Renfrewshire, Scotland, said: 'It was thanks to Record Breakers that I discovered my hamster had died.' Allan explained: 'I had read that the average life expectancy of a hamster was 18 to 24 months. My 10-year-old self was so excited because my hamster 'Jeemy' was seven years old! I was busy composing a letter to Roy hoping Jeemy would become a record breaker when my dad informed me that Jeemy was actually Jeemy IV. Every time Jeemy died he was surreptitiously replaced. I was upset – not at the sad demise of my pets but at the wasted time and effort of letter writing!' Many readers said their childhood memories of the show have subsequently been tainted by learning about the far-right politics of the two other original presenters, twins Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter. The Guinness World Records founders astounded many viewers with their recall of record-breaking facts and figures. But the brothers also co-founded the rightwing National Association for Freedom (Naff), later the Freedom Association, which campaigned against sporting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa. Ross McWhirter, who was assassinated by an IRA gunman in 1975, also advocated restrictions on the freedom of the Irish community in Britain, including compulsory registration with the police. 'As my family is from Belfast, I guess that would have included us,' said Andrew Brooke. 'As a child, Norris McWhirter just seemed to be a kindly old and eccentric uncle, wheeled out to amaze us with his remarkable memory,' Brooke added. 'I also remember feeling very sorry for him after Ross was murdered. 'As I grew older and became more politically aware, I developed a severe aversion to Norris, after finding out that he ran a nasty rightwing thinktank. I couldn't understand how the BBC would employ someone with such extreme views. Then again, vetting children's TV presenters wasn't exactly the BBC's forte back then.' Other readers' recollections of later series, after Norris McWhirter had left the show in 1985, were not tarnished by the subsequent presenters' political leanings. Sue Wilde-Greer, 56, from Spain, recalled how her father, Mike, then a sales director for a window-cleaning kit company, was invited on the show in 1995 to judge an attempt to break the fastest window-cleaning record. 'He loved being on the show,' she said. 'He wore his best suit and we all sat down as a family to watch it.' The record-breaker Terry 'Turbo' Burrows said his time on the show, then hosted by the former Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker and the former Olympic and Commonwealth medal-winning athlete Kriss Akabusi was 'truly amazing'. He went on to break his window-cleaning record a further nine times, bringing the record time down to 9.14 seconds.
