Latest news with #PeterDoyle
Cision Canada
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cision Canada
Ripley's Aquarium of Canada celebrates Canada Day with 1867 tickets for $18.67
Celebrating our home and native land with a reel Canadian deal: 1,867 tickets daily for $18.67 TORONTO, June 19, 2025 /CNW/ - Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is diving into Canada Day celebrations with a True North Strong and SEA offer: 1,867 tickets per day for just $18.67 (plus HST), available onsite only from Saturday, June 28th through Tuesday, July 1st. This limited-time deal gives guests the chance to explore the wonders beneath the waves at a price that's sure to make a splash. "We wanted to really celebrate Canada Day this year with something special, a promotion that not only celebrates our great country, gives our guests a great deal, lets them connect with some incredible Canadian aquatic life, and most importantly, have a memorable Canada Day weekend." – Peter Doyle, General Manager. This offer is valid each day from Saturday, June 28 th to Tuesday, July 1 st, 2025. A total of 1,867 discounted tickets are available daily at the promotional price of $18.67 + HST and are only available onsite at the aquarium.
Otago Daily Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
After 40 years, Miner's Band play last hurrah
The Arrow Miners Band (from left) Joe Guise, Lyn Jefcoate, Peter Doyle, Barbara Kerr, Cheryl Collie and Colin Macnicol delivered their final performance at the Super Seniors High Tea, part of the Arrowtown Autumn TRACEY ROXBURGH The Arrow Miners Band have officially disbanded. Formed 40 years ago, ahead of the first Arrowtown Autumn Festival, the band chose to play their final fling at yesterday's sold-out Super Seniors High Tea, part of the entertainment of this year's festival's opening day. Festival committee member Nicola Bentley said father time had caught up with the band, and noted it was with "a massive lump in my heart and a tear in my eye", she gave them their final intro. More than 35 members had played a part in the band over the years, on instruments ranging from the piano, violin, guitar, banjo, saxophone, accordion, drums, Barry Bain's 1890 sousaphone and Les Rogerson's lagerphone — a stick with bottle tops on it. While synonymous with the autumn festival, often accompanied by the Buckingham Belles, the band had also performed at the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival, on board the TSS Earnslaw, at The Hills golf course during the New Zealand Open, and had played for the late Queen Elizabeth II. Ms Bentley said members had also rallied around Arrowtown's community and helped raise money for various initiatives, including the seismic strengthening and restoration of the Lakes District Museum, painting the Arrowtown Post Office, to cover the costs of the Buckingham Belles junior troupe, the Mini Belles, new uniforms and to restore a 1948 Austin truck, dubbed "Old Red", given to them by the late Alma and Jack Stevenson, which had now been donated to the festival. "That means that Old Red will continue to carry the memory of the Miners Band, and we can think about them for many years to come," Ms Bentley said. "We thank you so much — to you and all of your band members who have brought your memorable music to our ears over the past 40 years. "You've forged your place in the history of Arrowtown and our festival. "We will miss you dearly." An emotional Peter Doyle, a member of the band for about 35 years, paid tribute to his fellow band members, including the last remaining original player Joe Guise. "We've got some new people that have come and, unfortunately gone — we said farewell to our dear friend Archie [Flint] last week. "It's been an absolute dream playing this gig. We've loved every minute of it. "Thank you, Arrowtown, goodbye." Following the miners band's performance, other entertainment at the high tea included a special performance by the Remarkable Men's Ballet, choreographed by Claire Hazledine, fittingly, to Vivaldi's Autumn. The festival continues until Sunday.
CBC
08-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Could the U.S.-Canada trade war help Toronto tourism? Some attractions are betting on it
Operators of tourist attractions are hoping for a busy March Break in Toronto now that some Canadians are changing their travel plans due to U.S. tariff threats and the weak loonie. Various attractions in the city, such as Ripley's Aquarium and the CN Tower, are stepping up offerings or promotions in a bid to attract residents opting to travel within Canada instead of crossing the border. Some are also wondering if the threat of on-again, off-again tariffs will impact the number of U.S. visitors to Toronto. Peter Doyle, general manager of Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is one of them. "America is a big part of our market. It always has been. So will they be coming? The strength of their dollar versus ours may be a reason to visit, but also, are they going to come or stay in the U.S. and visit there and spend money there? It's such an unknown. "COVID was strange. This is stranger." Doyle said the attraction has seen an influx of Quebec visitors this week, which is Quebec's March Break, and the numbers of visitors from that province is higher this year than last year. From Feb. 15 to March 7, the aquarium offered a 25 per cent discount for Ontario residents. The numbers surpassed expectations, with more than 12,000 tickets sold, it said. During the upcoming March break rush, it's running a "No Tariff Tuesday" discount, offering 25 per cent off to all walk-in visitors. Could trade war have positive spin-off for local tourism? Peter George, chief operating officer of the CN Tower, said on Friday the attraction may benefit from people opting to travel within Canada instead of crossing the border. The tower already has two million visitors a year, he said. The question is if people choosing to cancel travel plans will mean even more this year. "I think it's going to be good for our tourism industry as we move through this," George said. "We've always been really pro-Canada. We've always focused a lot of our work on Canada. We're just hyper-focused now." The CN Tower, which he says tells the story of Canada, has images of maple leaves in red light on its ray dome, which is the bubble around its top, every night. George says it's being lit in red and white every hour and is promoting Canadian beer, wine and spirits on its menu in its restaurants. The attraction also plans to hang "rather large" Canadian flags to give photo opportunities to visitors, George said. Its retail store as well will feature more Canadian products as well. "It's really important for us to continue to support Canada. We always have. We're just doing more of it than we ever have before." George added that U.S. visitors are always welcome at the CN Tower. He said he believes many Americans will continue to visit the attraction. 'Massive sea change' in tourism in past 5 years Andrew Weir, president of Destination Toronto, an organization that promotes the city, said he thinks tourism operators are taking a "measured" approach to the current disruption in the tourism industry. Weir noted that there was a "massive sea change" in tourism in the past five years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, he said visitors from China were a big part of the Toronto market, but now, there is hope that visitors from Mexico will pick up the slack. Currently, there is much talk about potential, but the industry is monitoring the data closely to discern trends, he added. "It's hard to forecast beyond next week, frankly, when the situation changes as much as it does," Weir said. "Everybody is waiting to see what the trend is. You can see more bookings or more cancellations over a period of a couple days but that's not necessarily indicative of a larger trend." Weir said Toronto saw 9 million visitors last year and 6.3 million of them were Canadian, with the majority from Ontario. The U.S., meanwhile, accounted for 1.6 million of the nine million visitors. "We have a long term strategy to diversify our tourism markets. We need to get those tourists and visitors and meeting delegates back from the U.S. and the international markets as well as just from Canada." Weir added that Canadians, especially people from highly populated areas of southern Ontario, know Toronto and they are always looking at what is new to see and do in the city.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gallagher strikes $1.2 billion deal for rival insurance broker Woodruff Sawyer
(Reuters) -Arthur J. Gallagher said on Tuesday it would acquire rival Woodruff Sawyer in a $1.2 billion deal, marking the insurance broker's latest move to expand its business. The deal will bolster Gallagher's management liability, construction, real estate and cyber offerings and also expand its presence in the West Coast region. Dealmaking activity within the insurance broker industry has ramped up in recent years, as companies look to beef up their presence in the middle-market segment. Gallagher had also struck a $13.5 billion deal in December to buy insurance broker AssuredPartners. The Insurer, a Reuters publication, exclusively reported last month Gallagher was close to a deal for Woodruff Sawyer. Woodruff Sawyer had also held talks with insurance brokers WTW and Brown & Brown, the Insurer had reported. San Francisco, California-based Woodruff Sawyer provides property and casualty insurance products, employee benefits offerings and risk management services with a focus on middle and large-market clients. Founded by E.L. Woodruff in 1918, Woodruff Sawyer has grown into one of the largest insurance brokerages in the U.S. and is largely known as a Directors and Officers (D&O) specialist. D&O insurance covers the company and its management, shielding them from claims arising from their decisions and actions. Woodruff Sawyer's more than 600 employees will work under Peter Doyle, head of Gallagher's U.S. retail property and casualty brokerage operations. Woodruff Sawyer's pro forma revenue was about $268 million for the trailing 12 months ended December 31. The company operates 14 offices in the U.S. and one in the UK. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2025. Sign in to access your portfolio
BBC News
21-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
The north Staffordshire decoy sites that fooled Hitler's bombers
It was a plan designed to fool Hitler's bombers - four pieces of land in north Staffordshire transformed to look like fake airfields, factories or burning aim? To trick the WW2 Luftwaffe into bombing open countryside instead of high-priority industrial targets nearby, such as Shelton Iron and Steel Works, the Michelin Tyre Factory and the Meir forward to more than 80 years later and researchers from Keele University and Goldsmiths, University of London, have published a study that looks into three of these "largely forgotten" decoy sites."It's been a real eye-opener to work on something which is so obscure and yet so important," said Prof Peter Doyle, military historian and earth scientist at Goldsmiths. The three sites examined were built as Special Fire sites, also known as Starfish. Fires would be lit on the ground to fool the enemy into thinking targets were on fire, therefore offloading their bombs."The fact is, every single one of these bombers was going to do damage… [so] you have an active defence, you have the aircraft shooting other aircraft down, or, you bring in something clever to persuade the Germans to drop their bombs," said Prof Doyle. The features also operated as sites which used lighting to recreate residential areas or working factories with poor were built along German radio beam directions, which were used as a means of navigation in the early part of the the end of the conflict, there were 237 Starfish sites across Britain protecting 81 target towns, cities and is estimated that about 968 tonnes of German bombs were dropped on decoys across the nation, according to Keele the fact the sites were phony should not detract from the bravery of those operating them, the researchers explained. "You're trying to attract the bombers to attack you, it's crazy sounding but this is why I think in the paper we've described how these guys were pretty brave, they were unsung," said Prof for the value of the work, he explained: "The Michelin Tyre Factory... without tyres, you don't have aircraft that can take off, you can't have trucks."Without ceramics you're not going to be able to have particular electronic elements or electrical devices... you're not going to be able to use those in certain munitions factories and so on." So, what remains, decades on?"On site they're variable, it's been about 80 years since they've been used," said Dr Jamie Pringle, reader in forensic geosciences at researchers found control bunkers with diesel generators, which were used to fire up the lights."They'd be mimicking some of the coal bits coming out from the trains to try and mimic train glows, I guess," he systems were still there, as well as ventilation tunnels, bomb blast walls and bricks stamped with "V" for Victory."You've even got little bits of blackout curtains still nailed to some of the wooden doorframes," said Dr some remnants are topside and still visible, many of the sites' secrets are how do you get such a detailed picture without threatening what remains? Techniques used in the study included drones, ground-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and 360-degree camera imagery."This study has shown how modern non-invasive surveying techniques can detect and characterise relic archaeological decoy bombing sites and provide new knowledge on this desperate time for Britain during World War Two," said Dr Pringle."We're not physically extracting things, we're not digging stuff out, we're using surface surveying methods to capture 3D virtual tours." The approach has been used to train future generations of historians and geologists, with masters students from Keele playing a key most importantly for the team behind it all, it shines a light on something about which the public has little Wisniewski, lecturer in forensic science at Keele, said: "You can see a… slightly yellow brick building... in the middle of the field, no context to it."It's only when you start delving into why it's there and what it is, that you start thinking 'actually this is pretty special'." Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
