Uphill struggle to secure ski centre’s future as it struggles for snow

Published

4 months ago

May 24, 2024

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A popular Scottish ski centre has launched a fundraiser to help give the business a boost after suffering a tough winter season due to a lack of snow.

The Lecht 2090 has been welcoming snowsport enthusiasts since 1977 and is urging supporters to buy a lift pass as a donation to help secure the future of the resort into 2025 and beyond.

Managing director Iain du Pon, whose father Pieter du Pon founded the centre alongside the late James McIntosh, told Sky News that the latest winter season had “been awful”.

He said had it not been for the centre’s snow factory and cannons keeping the lower slopes covered with man-made snow, there would have been next to no outdoor action at all.

“It was really terrible,” Mr du Pon said. “The issue we’ve had this year is that we’ve had a bit of cold weather which has then yo-yoed with the warmth.

“Anything that we’ve either received naturally or then produced man-made has melted very, very fast.

“So, we’ve ended up in a position where we’ve literally run the whole winter on factory snow and man-made snow, and just been running on our nursery areas.”

Thanks to the resort’s snow-making technology, more than 6,500 children have been able to get out on the slopes in collaboration with local ski clubs.

“Which is brilliant, considering it’s so restricted,” Mr du Pon said.

‘Power-hungry’ snow-making facilities

However, the snow-making facilities – which are only designed to top up the powder – are “power hungry” and cost about £500 a day to run.

Mr du Pon said: “Ultimately, it’s our cash side of things. We did quite a lot of development work last year, which we were hoping to recover some cost of it this winter, and it left us with quite a hole to fill.”

The Lecht sits on the A939 between Cock Bridge in Aberdeenshire and Tomintoul in Moray within the Cairngorms National Park.

A JustGiving page and donations made through The Lecht’s website have so far raised more than £24,000 of the £35,000 target.

Mr du Pon said he is over the moon with the support – which mirrors a successful fundraiser a few years ago for the snow-making facilities.

He added: “We’re less concerned about survivability now. We still need to work very, very hard to get to where we want to be.

“It would have been a massively much more uphill struggle had we not been successful with crowdfunding so far.

“We’re the last ski centre in Scotland that’s still run by the original families, and it’s never gone bust thankfully.

“And we’re doing everything we can to make sure that continues.”

The winter season of 2021 was one of the best for snow in recent years, but ski centres across the country were forced to remain closed due to COVID restrictions.

Mr du Pon said: “It probably would have been one of the best winters for the last 20, 25, 30 years.”

Outside of the winter season and as temperatures rise due to the climate crisis, the resort previously boasted a dry ski slope and has hosted go-karting and quad bike sessions in the past in an effort to boost income.

Bosses have advertised the centre as a wedding venue, and currently there are mountain bike trails for adventurers to enjoy.

A race organised by Deeside Thistle Cycling Club last summer was “very successful”, but the snowsport action is the money-maker for the centre.

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Mr du Pon said: “We’ve got mountain bike trails, and it is something that we’re really keen to develop and push.

“We built them several years ago, but what we found in the couple of years gone past is that they frankly didn’t make the money that we needed them to do to justify running the ski lift.

“The real bottom line is that we’ll make more in one weekend during the snowsport season than we would for the whole of the summer.

“So, unless we can really develop something that’s going to take off – and we’ve tested the water and we’ve done a lot of different things over the years – it’s very hard to justify putting a lot of money into it to really develop it.”

An efficiency drive last year included a new magic carpet lift, as well as the upgrade of gearboxes, motors and panels to lower the centre’s power consumption.

Bosses also hope to develop the resort’s staff.

Mr du Pon added: “I feel that we’re in a really, really good position now to really push the business forward. We just need to try and get a bit of reliability with snow.

“So, it’s a bit of a difficult period at the moment, but I think we’ve got a fantastic customer base. The support we’ve been getting from our customers is just phenomenal.”

UK

Anthony Joshua defeated by Daniel Dubois in IBF world heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium

Published

6 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Anthony Joshua defeated by Daniel Dubois in IBF world heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium

Anthony Joshua missed out on the chance to become a three-time heavyweight world champion after he was stopped by British rival Daniel Dubois in the fifth round.

Dubois, 27, knocked down Joshua towards the end of the opening round with an overhand right to the 34-year-old’s chin.

The IBF heavyweight champion then dropped Joshua at the end of round three and twice in the fourth.

A right hook ended the fight with a knockout for Dubois’ first defence of the title.

The fighters went toe to toe at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a record 96,000 fans.

‘We came up short’

Minutes after retaining the IBF championship, Dubois shouted to the crowd “are you not entertained?” before saying: “I’m a gladiator, you know?

“I’m just a warrior to the bitter end. I’m just ready to go. I want to go to the top level of this game and reach my potential. God bless you all.”

Joshua said the loss would not stop him from rebuilding despite admitting “we came up short”.

“You know I’m ready to kick off in the ring, but I’m going to keep my cool, keep very professional, and give respect to my opponent,” he said.

“I’m always saying to myself I’m a fighter for life… We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.”

Dubois’ victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division

Jacquie Beltrao

Sports presenter

Daniel Dubois will feel like he has fulfilled his destiny here at Wembley. His father has trained him to be a champion boxer since he was tiny.

He held the IBF belt, but he has gone in there tonight and defended it in spectacular fashion – he is now in every conversation going forward.

What now for AJ? Can he face rebuilding? And will he even want to?

The Wembley ring walk is notoriously long, and Dubois looked nervous – but so did Joshua, who has done this many times before in front of a full house.

Perhaps he was thinking of what was at stake – the chance to be a three-time heavyweight champion of the world.

But 27-year-old Dubois holds the belt and was keen to prove he was a worthy champion quickly.

Many wondered if Dubois would freeze on the biggest stage: Question asked and answered emphatically.

It was a crushing defeat for Joshua – most were not expecting such a one-sided victory.

Dubois will now most likely take on the winner of Fury v Usyk 2 for all the belts. But the manner of his victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division.

Hearn: AJ will want rematch

Promoter Eddie Hearn then said “it was the first round” where Joshua lost, “after that he was fighting on heart and desire”.

Hearn added: “When you are in there with a massive puncher this is what can happen. He never stopped trying to get up, even when he couldn’t get up.

“Daniel deserves credit, he’s a real world champion. Congratulations to him… I’m sure [Joshua will] exercise that rematch clause, it’s a given, it’s a dangerous fight because he’s growing in confidence all the time but he’ll believe he can beat him.”

British champion Dubois, who before tonight had never fought at Wembley, was elevated to the IBF title holder after Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the belt.

Joshua outweighed Dubois by four pounds, despite a career-heaviest weight for his rival, ahead of the fight.

Among those watching was Tyson Fury, the former WBC heavyweight champion, who took a ringside seat.

Liam plays Oasis hits

Fury is set to fight Usyk for the other three titles in a rematch on 21 December.

Ahead of the fight, Liam Gallagher played some of Oasis’ biggest hits to the sold-out crowd.

The 52-year-old frontman walked on to a massive cheer and said “yes Wembley vibes in the air,” before launching into Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Supersonic and Cigarettes & Alcohol.

He and Noel Gallagher will play Wembley for their first of seven reunion shows at the stadium on 25 July – 307 days away.

Other famous faces ringside were Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, former boxer Ricky Hatton, Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Love Island presenter Maya Jama.

UK

Mohamed al Fayed: Former royal security head says he warned Royal Family before Diana went on holiday with businessman

Published

12 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Mohamed al Fayed: Former royal security head says he warned Royal Family before Diana went on holiday with businessman

The former head of royal protection says he warned the Royal Family about Mohamed al Fayed’s reputation before Princess Diana took her sons on holiday with him.

The former Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94, was described as a “monster” earlier this week by lawyers representing 37 alleged sexual abuse victims.

The women say he raped and sexually assaulted them while they worked at the luxury department store, prowling the shop floor and “cherry-picking” women to be brought to his executive suite.

Now, Mr Davies says people were aware of the Egyptian businessman’s reputation as far back as the 1990s, and that he raised concerns about him to the Royal Family.

“This was a man who I would be concerned [about] if a relative of mine was going on holiday with him, let alone the future king and his brother and their mother, Princess Diana,” Dai Davies told Sky News.

In July 1997, a month before she died, Princess Diana went on holiday with Fayed and his wife to their residence in St Tropez.

She took the two young princes with her – a holiday Prince Harry described as “heaven” in his 2023 memoir Spare.

“I was horrified because I was aware of some of the allegations even then that were going around,” said Mr Davies.

“I was aware that he had tried very hard to ingratiate himself with the Royal Family and obviously knowing, as I did, the reputation he was alleged [to have] then, I was concerned, and I took the opportunity to inform the Royal Family.”

Mr Davies says he was told: “Her Majesty is aware.”

“The rest is history,” he said.

Buckingham Palace told Sky News it had no comment on the allegations.

Fulham ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations

Fulham FC, a football club that was owned by Fayed between 1997 and 2013, has said it is “deeply troubled” by the dozens of “disturbing” sexual abuse allegations against the businessman.

The Premier League club also said it is “in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected” by this alleged behaviour.

However, Gaute Haugenes, who managed the club’s women’s team between 2001 and 2003, told the BBC extra precautions were taken to protect female players from Fayed.

“We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur. We protected the players.”

‘The door was locked behind me’

A former Harrods employee told Sky News she was summoned to Fayed’s apartment when she began working for the department store at 19 years old.

She was told the meeting was a “job review” before “the door was locked behind me”.

“I saw his bedroom door partially open – there were sex toys on view,” she said.

“I felt petrified. I perched myself at the very end of the sofa and then… my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself onto me.”

Harrods said in a statement on Thursday it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.

The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.

The legal team involved in a civil claim against Harrods for allegedly failing to provide a safe system of work for its employees said they aimed to seek justice for the victims of a “vast web of abuse”.

UK

Lily Allen says she had her children for ‘all the wrong reasons’

Published

12 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.

The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.

By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.

Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.

“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”

The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?

“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.

When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”

The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.

“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.

“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.

“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”

The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents

Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.

She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.

She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.

Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.