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Love Island legend is ‘latest contestant to sign up for Dancing On Ice 2024’

by www.mirror.co.uk Leave a Comment

As the days begin to get shorter, the nights fall earlier, and the approach of ITV ’s Dancing On Ice hastens, another name has been added to the link up of celebrities skaters expected to take part in the next season.

And this time, a Love Island legend has been flouted as one to the dozen or so contestants expected to take to the rink come January. Amber Davies was a winner of the ITV2 reality romance show back in 2017 – when she scooped the top prize alongside Kem Cetinay, who himself competed on Dancing On Ice in 2018.

According to reports, 26-year-old Amber will be donning her finest sequins and pulling on her skates to take part in the upcoming sixteenth season of the long-running winter sport reality competition. And the star – who has carved out an impressive career as a West End stage performer – reportedly intends to win the ice skating show.

A source told The Sun: “Amber would be a real coup for the show – she’s an amazing performer, so she’s bound to be a natural on the ice and sure to be one to watch. After Love Island, she had to work really hard to be taken seriously on the stage and she proved any doubters wrong.”

Amber Davies is reportedly joining the cast of Dancing On Ice 2024 (

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WireImage)

Amber’s ex-boyfriend Kem Cetinay competed on Dancing On Ice in 2018 with skating partner Alex Murphy (

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REX/Shutterstock)

The source added: “Amber is a perfectionist, and used to putting in long hours rehearsing for the stage, so she’d definitely have her eye on the prize.” So far, just two celebrities have been officially confirmed for the forthcoming new season.

Professional boxer Ricky Hatton, 44, was the first star to be confirmed for the new season. Discussing his excitement about taking part, he said during an appearance on This Morning : “If I can hold my nerve in the boxing ring, I should be able to hold my nerve in the ice rink.”

Actress, singer & television presenter Claire Sweeney, 52, was the second star to be confirmed for the show. She said: “I’m really looking forward to going to an ice rink with my son and actually being able to skate and not have to use the penguins they give you to help you stay upright!

“I’ve had to wear my boots around the house… I haven’t stepped on the ice yet. I am stepping into the unknown here. I don’t know how I will feel. But I am very excited.”

Claire added: “I’m nervous and excited about doing it.” A string of other stars have been rumoured as taking part in the show – with chart topping singers and reality stars among those tipped to appear on the ice.

Former S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearitt and ex-Little Mix singer Jess Nelson have been linked to the show. While Gogglebox star Stephen Webb and EastEnders actress Shona McGarty – famous for playing Whitney Dean on the BBC soap – have also been linked to the show.

One person who definitely won’t be appearing on the new season is disgraced host Phillip Schofield . His career imploded earlier this year and all links to ITV were brutally cut when he finally confessed to having an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a much younger male colleague behind the scenes of This Morning and lying about it. He hosted Dancing On Ice alongside Holly Willoughby ever since it was launched in2006.

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We live by restaurant packed with Love Island & Premier League stars – but it’s such a nuisance we can’t use our gardens

by www.thesun.co.uk Leave a Comment

NEIGHBOURS of a restaurant loved by Love Island and Premier League stars have told how the posh customer base is a nuisance.

The Dog and Pickle in Moreton, Essex, has been attracting huge stars like Rod Stewart , Denise van Outen and Olly Murs since opening two years ago.

Landlord Dave Smith rescued the 500-year-old inn and created the flourishing eaterie with a terraced garden.

Customers have also included a host of soccer legends including West Ham star Jarrod Bowen – and Sir Trevor Brooking, Paul Gascoigne and Teddy Sheringham who took part in a celeb fund-raising charity auction.

And next month top soccer boss Harry Redknapp is hosting a three-course charity supper to raise money for a local hospice.

Other diners spotted in the smart pub have been Mark Wright of TOWIE and Michelle Keegan as well as former Love Island contestant Dani Dyer and Joey Essex’s sister Frankie.

The diner may have attracted rave reviews but not everyone in the tiny community is happy.

One neighbour who did not want to be named said: ”It is unbearable at weekends – the music played in the pub garden is very loud and goes on until midnight. You can’t sit outside in your garden because of the racket.”

Another claimed the noise from the restaurant guide Hardens-winning eaterie ruined the tranquillity of the village and affected the peace and quite of the community’s main street lined with a mixture of modern homes and timber-framed properties.

The village is seen a desirable place to live because it is in the middle of the countryside but only half an hour from the middle of London.

Landlord and dad-of-two young children Dave, 38, puts the pub’s growing success down the hard work and the support of his 30-strong staff.

He said:”We have poured everything we have into the this place and it’s proved popular – we do up to 900 covers a week and have got nearly 40,000 Instagram and Facebook followers.

”We have wines that cost £200 and offer a wagyu steak which costs £85 – but we also offer three-course meals for £30..

“We have done a lot here and like to think we have a good relationship with the village. We grow all our own herbs among other things and we must be doing something right – 90% of our reviews on Google are 4.5 out of five.”

Another supportive villager said: “Dave has done wonders with the pub and has also done as lot for the community – he has even helped solve the village primary school’s parking problems buy allowing mums dropping off children to use his car park.”

The Dog and Pickle is opposite the village’s other pub The White Hart where landlady Carla Ince has nothing but praise for the transformation of the “rival” pub.

She said:”The place was an empty eyesore for a couple of years but it has been saved. There had been a few efforts to make it work but none had been successful until  Dave arrived. The pub is a welcome addition to village life and there is no rivalry – what they do is very different from our role as a traditional village local pub..

“I know there have been a couple of issues with noise – and Dave has my sympathy – but if people buy a property close to a pub what do they expect?”

Parish council Chairman Ewan Crosbie said:”Where there have been issues with noise there has been a dialogue with the landlord and he has has dealt with them. He is in compliance with the terms of his licence.”

A spokesperson for The Dog and Pickle said: “The complaints are historic as we have not received any complaints this year and there have been no issues at all with the council and their EHO.”

Hundreds attend funeral of Long Island band director killed in bus crash

by www.foxnews.com Leave a Comment

Fox News Flash top headlines for September 28

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

  • Hundreds of people gathered Thursday for the funeral of Gina Pellettiere, 43, a high school band director who died when a band camp-bound school bus crashed after veering off Interstate 84 on Sept. 21.
  • Pellettiere and Beatrice Ferrari, a 77-year-old retired teacher, were killed in the crash, and dozens of students were injured.
  • Pellettiere’s funeral Mass was held at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Massapequa Park, New York, near Long Island’s southern coast, with Monsignor Jim Lisante saying she “packed a lot” into her short life.

A high school band director who died when a bus crashed while carrying students from New York to a band camp in Pennsylvania last week was remembered Thursday as a dedicated teacher with a zest for life.

Gina Pellettiere, who led Farmingdale High School’s marching band for more than a decade, “wasn’t just a good teacher, she was a great teacher,” Rita Padden, the school’s former fine arts director, told mourners at Pellettiere’s funeral in Massapequa Park on Long Island. “You hear from parents all the time: ‘Ms. P was the reason my son loved trumpet or band.’”

Pellettiere, 43, and retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, were killed on Sept. 21 when the charter bus they were riding in veered off a highway and crashed down an embankment on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, northwest of New York City .

ALL NEW YORK STUDENTS INJURED IN THURSDAY’S BUS CRASH EXPECTED TO RECOVER, SUPERINTENDENT SAYS

Dozens of students were injured in the crash; officials said four remained hospitalized as of late Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

Bus seen overturned on side of interstate in New York

A bus carrying high school band students overturned in New York on Sept. 21, leaving at two women dead and several students injured. (WNYW)

Newsday reports that hundreds of students, parents, co-workers and community members attended Pellettiere’s funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church.

DRIVER DIES IN FIERY CRASH WITH NEW YORK SCHOOL BUS RETURNING FROM FIELD TRIP: VIDEO

Monsignor Jim Lisante said Pellettiere “was here to leave the world better than she found it.” Lisante asked, “Did Gina know she would live 43 years? Of course not, but she packed a lot into those years.”

Padden said Pellettiere “lived life to the fullest.”

Pellettiere’s survivors include her parents and the 2-year-old son she was raising as a single mother.

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The funeral for Ferrari, a retired social studies teacher who was serving as a chaperone on the band trip, took place Wednesday in Farmingdale and drew hundreds of mourners as well.

Prominent Tiwi footballer among series of suicides in remote NT, as data shows territory rate climbing

by www.abc.net.au Leave a Comment

Remote Aboriginal communities on opposite sides of the Top End have been left shocked and grieving after a series of suicides in the past fortnight, including the death of a prominent Tiwi footballer.

Key points:

  • A Labor MP says there were three suicides on the Tiwi Islands in one week

  • The Tiwi Bombers Football Club released a statement paying tribute to former player

  • Data shows suicide numbers are increasing among Aboriginal people in the NT

It comes as new data reveals the NT’s suicide rate has climbed to more than 50 per cent higher than the national average, driven by a disproportionate number of deaths in the territory bush.

The NT’s suicide rate is far and away Australia’s highest, with a rate of 20.5 lives lost per 100,000.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 130 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the NT died by suicide between 2018 and 2022, compared to 105 in the four years prior.

On the Tiwi Islands this week, Labor MP Marion Scrymgour told media the community of Wurrumiyanga had seen “three completed suicides in less than a week”.

“It’s had a major impact on both islands,” Ms Scrymgour said.

“There’s a lot of sadness in the community at the moment.

“The status quo can’t continue – we’ve gotta get some changes happening on the ground in community, and it needs to start from the federal government, to the NT, to local communities.

“Because I get a bit tired of going and seeing families crying, and hearing their grief.”

The community of Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land is also in mourning this week, the ABC can confirm, following the tragic death of a teenager who took his own life.

Tributes for Tiwi football player

The Tiwi Bombers Football Club released a statement saying one of their players, who the ABC is not naming out of respect for Tiwi cultural protocol, had passed away.

“The Tiwi Bombers FC mourn the loss of a son, our playing groups and support staff have lost a brother, our Tiwi Bombers community loss of a family member,” the statement read.

“We send our love and prayers out to the families and friends of our beloved teammate.

“There’s no way to measure the impact this has and will continue to have on our club and wider Tiwi community, we will group together, we will stand by each other, we will support one another.”

The NT’s Suicide Prevention Minister Lauren Moss said AFL NT had reached out to the government over how to help support the football club and wider Tiwi community through the tragedy.

“This will impact AFL NT. They will be feeling this really strongly, the Tiwi Bombers and the community around them will be feeling this really strongly,” Ms Moss said.

Suicides create ‘ripple effect’ for communities

NT 2023 Young Australian of the Year Jahdai Vigona, who hails from the Tiwi Islands, said the community was dealing with “constant grief” with each preventable death “adding more trauma”.

“For someone like me, because I’m so used to these suicidal deaths happening on the Tiwi Islands, you sort of get desensitised to hearing it,” Mr Vigona said.

“It’s almost like, ‘Oh no, not another one.’

“That in itself is just tragic, especially for our culture and our people and our families who are left with the impact on the Tiwi Islands.”

He said each death triggered a “ripple effect” across the impacted communities.

Calls for change

Ms Scrymgour, who was on the Tiwi Islands this week in support of pre-polling for the national Voice referendum, said some form of change was sorely overdue for remote communities.

“We can’t keep doing this to communities,” she said.

“We can’t just keep saying it will get better, because it hasn’t.”

Mr Vigona said it was up to “leaders in our communities to be stepping up and voicing and being advocates for these issues, and [finding] how can we … come up with the answers ourselves”.

Ms Moss said despite a range of work being undertaken, including the release of a new holistic five-year strategy, suicide prevention in the remote NT remained “very, very challenging”.

“When you’re looking remote, there are a whole range of other challenges around that when it comes to health service delivery, for example,” she said.

When asked why she believed the suicide rate had worsened in the NT over the past year, Ms Moss cited a range of factors including ongoing housing needs, financial hardship, and stresses caused by the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Must see attractions of Vietnam

by en.vietnamplus.vn Leave a Comment

Must see attractions of Vietnam hinh anh 1

Hanoi (VNA) – The livable coastal city of Da Nang, the ancient town of Hoi An , and Phu Quoc island, are destinations considered by foreign experts to be must see attractions for international visitors to Vietnam.

Last week, experts from the famous international travel website Travel+Leisure (USA) and The Week (UK) suggested engaging activities that tourists can experience when coming to Da Nang and Hoi An in the central region and Phu Quoc island in the southern region.

10 best things to do in Da Nang and Hoi An

According to Travel+Leisure, with pristine beaches, Da Nang is gradually becoming a “magnet” attracting international tourists with luxurious coastal resorts, restaurants, bars, attractive entertainment areas, mysterious mountains and cave systems, and especially the iconic Golden Bridge, the new symbol of Da Nang.

Notably, Da Nang is blessed with picture perfect nature with smooth white sand beaches and clear jade blue sea water as beautiful as a painting.

The My Khe beach stretches from Son Tra peninsula to Ngu Hanh Son (or Marble Mountains), a “paradise” for surfing, jet skiing, boating and experiencing other water sports activities.

Meanwhile, Hoi An is a charming ancient city in Quang Nam province.

Travel+Leisure suggests the 10 best things to do in Da Nang and Hoi An.

Travelers can watch the dragon spit fire every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm on one of the longest bridges in Da Nang or step into a world of fantasy and adventure at the Sun World theme park located high up in the Ba Na Hills 1500 metres above sea level.

Visitors can hike the Marble Mountain, relax on the beach of My Khe, experience the verdant Son Tra Peninsula, or stroll around Hoi An ancient town – UNESCO Heritage Site.

One can also join a cooking class in Hoi An, enjoy a morning coffee, immerse in the excitement of Hoi An’s local night market, or visit the historic Cham Islands.

Explore an island paradise in Vietnam

British magazine The Week has suggested that tourists explore the “Paradise Pearl Island” of Phu Quoc (Kien Giang province). Vietnam’s largest island is a much-loved destination among tourists, foreign and domestic, and caters to all budgets.

Famous for its endless palm-dotted, ivory sanded beaches, more than half of the island is a pristine national park. This creates a glorious vision of deep jungle green fringed with pale cream beaches, the whole surrounded by an ocean of jade fading to deep blue.

All that said, as with much of Vietnam, the construction crews are moving in and large resorts are springing up all over the place. The island has changed dramatically over 10 years and will continue to do so. The website advises to go soon, while there’s plenty of space to get lost, dirt tracks to drive down for hours to hidden beaches, friendly faces everywhere and delicious, local bars, cafes, street food and restaurants.

Must see attractions of Vietnam hinh anh 2 Phu Quoc is a famous destination with many luxurious resorts. (Photo: Vietnam+)

Much of what happens on the island is focused on Long Beach (known locally as Duong Duong) and the majority of beach clubs, restaurants, shops and bars are located here. It’s buzzing but not overwhelming so and there’s plenty of space to hang out.

Eating out is an inherent part of the culture here – from plastic stools around food carts on the street to modern takes on classic dishes and high end luxury seafood spots – there are countless options for dining.

A few must-tries on the island, available all over, are the Phu Quoc-style herring salad with onions, garlic, chilli and coconut; bún kèn (ken noodles) with herbs, pounded fish, shredded green papaya and cucumber over rice noodles with a coconut and lemongrass broth; and grilled sea urchins with spring onions and peanuts.

Tourists can do all the usual water sports here and Phu Quoc is home to some of Vietnam’s best diving with the core season from October to May.

There are waterfalls to hike to, fishing trips, temples and pagodas, the world’s longest cable car out to the small island of Hon Thom (it’s 8km if you’re interested and takes around 15 minutes), and a knock-off version of Disneyland called “VinWonders”./.

VNA